Ring Pops: Fun at your fingertips!

With the semester finally coming to a close and Christmas looming around the corner, I find myself sitting on the couch in my family room at home, TV on, wrapped in a blanket, and not a schoolbook in sight. Just the way Holiday Break should be. However, with all of this free time, I finally have the chance to reflect on this past semester (I can't believe I'm already halfway done with my junior year in college. Where did the time go?).

I've had my fair share of gen ed classes, and as I come closer to the cusp of senior year, I am starting to enroll in some of my capstone classes. Most of these classes serve as preparation for the real-world; so naturally, we engage in projects that mimic what we could potentially encounter in our future careers.

In my Creative Strategies class, our final project was to complete a campaign for a brand of candy. Components of the campaign were: the SAP, two print ads, a mounted storyboard for a TV spot, and a digital ad. The campaign was completed in groups, and I was in a group with 2 other girls. We decided to choose Ring Pops as our candy. While I don't have our final SAP on me (it's saved on my desktop on my account at school, I'll get that uploaded as soon as I get back!), I do have our final two print ads. Our target audience was children ages 8-12, and our slogan was "Fun at your fingertips".

Ghosts of Freshman past

The other day, on a whim, I decided to google myself. I was not surprised when the various social networking sites I use showed up first. However, after going back a few pages, I came across a blog from my freshman year of college. Although the blog was an academic assignment required by all freshman, I found that my young, naive, freshman thoughts still hold enough of a stylistic value to be shared on my older-and-wiser blog. Who needs time machines when you have the internet?

Palmer museum of art

By SARAH ELIZABETH PERRONE on September 23, 2009 12:28 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Sure, Penn State is famous for it's legendary football team and pristine athletics department, but it also can boast in the subject of fine arts. When walking down Curtin Road, one can see the lion paw sculptures standing before a building that appears to sport whiskers on its doorhandles. That building is the Palmer Museum of Art. The museum is home to 11 galleries, an auditorium, and even a garden. At the Palmer Museum, one can find artists from Philadelphia all the way to Asia. Even though it's just a university based museum does not mean it is inadequate in terms of art pieces.

It's refreshing to see such a sophisticated and well put-together musuem, and it certainly does not hurt that the museum is on campus grounds. Students can enjoy the temporary exhibits as well as revel in the beauty of the permanent collection. Either way, the Palmer Museum of art provides a great source for art critics and admirers alike to flock and enjoy art. Although the Museum closes at 4:30 every day (except on Sundays when it closes at 4:00), that is still plenty of time for everyone, from the football player to the english literarture major, to come in and indulge his or her inner art historian.

While that was just a snippet of my former eighteen year old self, the rest can be found here. Oh, the memories.

The little things about big cities

I love cities. I love the hustle and bustle, the constant motion, and the uninhibited sense of freedom that everyone seems to possess. But some of my favorite aspects of cities are the small, arbitrary things that usually remain overlooked.

Graffiti I saw while in Manhattan

I love being in surrounded by art. The way every visible post or pole shows traces of sticker bombing, the way artists pass out their demos, claiming them to be the "next best thing", and the way building facades are tagged with elaborate and sometimes thought-provoking messages. It's like everyone's trying to leave traces behind, as to make their mark in a place where they would otherwise go unnoticed.

Random sticker slapping on scaffolding in Chelsea (and my cousin in the background!)

There's an unrelenting sense of determination that everyone wants and needs to be heard. No matter how big of a message or how it gets across, the point is--- it gets across. Quite frankly, I think that if someone has the guts to lay a piece of his mind out on the table, to be dissected and picked apart by thousands of critical eyes; then he deserves to be recognized, or at least acknowledged for doing something that so many will never have the courage to step up and do.

In need of new study jams?

With the end of Thanksgiving Break peeking around the corner, I am slowly starting to realize that with the amount of work I have to do over the next two weeks, I should probably get a move on. However, being that it is a holiday, there has been a spike in the amount of activity going on in our house. From the constant coming-and-going of friends and family members, to the never ending commentary of football or hockey echoing throughout the entire house, it's hard to find a peaceful place to get things done. Fortunately for me, when I'm done stuffing my face with homemade food (a luxury I have taken full advantage of the past few days) I can retreat to my room, shut the door, and enjoy some much needed solidarity.

I, for one, know that it is nearly impossible to get anything accomplished unless my music selection is perfect. I guess it makes me an anal person, but it's crazy the way one song can throw off my entire study groove. Thankfully, I've finally come across an album that appears to be sent directly to me from the Study Gods themselves. Kaskade has been one of my favorite artists for a while now, so the release of his new album Fire and Ice on October 24th was like an early Christmas present.

The album is comprised of two discs Fire and Ice. The first disc, Fire is everything you would expect from Kaskade; ten catchy progressive house tracks, with awesome vocals and collaborators. Each song is so distinct, yet still maintain the deep-house signature style Kaskade is known for. What's awesome about this album is the way the second disc Ice mirrors Fire. This disc contains the same ten tracks, but they are deconstructed to give them more of a chill, lounge-esque vibe.

When I find myself in need of music that will not only keep me awake, but also help steady my focus, I turn to this album. The way the two discs seamlessly flow together keeps me from having to constantly scroll through my jumbled iTunes library to find a new song to play.

The music video for Kaskade's "Eyes", one of the hit singles off Fire & Ice.

My personal favorites from the Fire disc include the popular single "Eyes" (featuring Mindy Gledhill), "Llove" (featuring Haley Gibby who frequently collabs with Kaskade. Check out "Dynasty" and "Move for Me" to hear more their work together), and "Turn it Down" (featuring Rebecca & Fiona).

Although everything from Ice is amazing, I'd suggest listening to "Lick It" (featuring Skrillex), "Room for Happiness" (featuring Skylar Gray), and again "Turn it Down" (the reduced BPMs and touch of dubstep juxtapose really well with its Fire counterpart)

So whether you need to get work done, start getting work done, or just feel like chilling out, I'd highly recommend buying this cd to help you do so.

Mayhem is everywhere!

Have you met Mayhem? Many of us are all to familiar with Allstate's latest campaign featuring the sadistic perpetrator in situations which show the importance of investing in Allstate's insurance. When I first saw the ads, I thought they were hilarious (My personal favorite is Mayhem as the GPS). In my Research Methods in Advertising/PR class, we're doing a semester-long group research project on a different brand or company. My group chose to base our research question around Allstate's Mayhem campaign, asking whether or not humor is an effective tool in advertising.

We are going to create a survey which includes video links to ads from both the light-hearted, humorous Mayhem campaign, and the more serious "You're In Good Hands" Dennis Haysbert campaign. Following each ad, we will pose a series of questions meaning to gauge the memorable, informative, engaging, and convincing nature of the ads.

Allstate's latest Mayhem ad: super fan

Our group is going to start designing our survey soon and then we can finally start reeling in some data that will (hopefully) bring us a step closer to answering our research question.

I read an interesting article on the New York Times website that talked about Mayhem, and how Allstate has adopted the new strategy of creating a villain to portray the product (or in this case, company) as the hero. By doing this, Allstate is able to establish a positive brand image. Another thing I like about the Mayhem campaign is how they still include the Dennis Haysbert voiceover at the end of the ads, almost like they're tying the two campaigns together or maintaining some sort of congruity within their marketing.


This has definitely been an in-depth undertaking but I've definitely learned a lot about marketing research throughout the process. And what a process it has been. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product (and the finish line for that matter!)

Ad Project: Milwaukee Power Tools

For my creative strategies advertising class, one of our projects was to create two ads for an assigned "client", who in this case, was Milwaukee Power Tools. After working on the project for several weeks and putting the finishing touches on our Strategic Action Plans, our professor told us that suddenly "our client changed their mind" and wanted to go in a new direction with the campaign: comparing aspects of the tools to nature. We were told to scrap our past ideas and start from scratch; however, we were to keep our SAP the same. Our final ads along with SAP were to be turned in the next day.

Panic ensued.

The rationale behind the last-minute change-up was that our professor wanted us to focus less on using Photoshop and InDesign and more on creating good body copy. Stressed under the time-constraint and tired after what seemed like an endless back-and-forth email conversation, my partner and I managed to pull together two decent ads.

Our final two ads for Milwaukee Power Tools

In our original SAP, my partner and I had targeted the product to middle aged, white-collar male homeowners with families. We felt that our original slogan, "Build your own memories" could still be relevant with the new theme, so we didn't change it. The most difficult part of this project was deciding which two images to use for the new concept and developing creative headlines that could relate the images to our audience and the product.

Hopefully what we lacked in creative graphic outflux, we made up for in copywriting!

Scary Good

I stumbled upon this ad a few months ago, and I think that it's genius.


Dirt Devil: The Exorcist (April 2011)

In all honesty, upon first viewing this, I was pretty scared (that being said, my fear tolerance is pretty low). From the eerie music, camera shots of flickering lamps and a man saying the rosary, to the screeching girl on the ceiling, I had absolutely no idea what was possibly being advertised. But then, the camera slowly pans upwards, the music goes from horrifying to happy-go-lucky, and we see an old woman vacuuming her floor. Wow. It's so perfect. Not only does this ad keep the audience on edge until the final second, but it throws in a humorous and completely unexpected twist as well.

In my opinion, this ad works for multiple reasons: for one, it's catchy. My attention never gravitated away from the screen for the entire 1:32 duration (and that's saying a lot because normally I can't stand scary movies for a second!). On that note, this ad speaks to multiple audiences. It isn't just targeted to a specific market, rather it can appeal to everyone. A teenager could enjoy this just as much as a 65 year old man could. I mean, I'm sure this might be a bit much for an 8 year old, what 8 year olds are even buying vacuums? Finally, it establishes the competitive advantage of the product; Dirt Devil Vacuums are powerful. The whole purpose of the ad is to show the strength of the vaccuum, and it does so pretty blatantly (although maybe slightly exaggerated).

Some people are critical as to whether or not humor is effective in advertising. I think that if used in a smart way, that isn't too over-the-top, it definitely can be. Humor makes things memorable, and if the whole point of advertising is to ingrain a brand into the mind of a consumer, then why not use humor in order to help do so?

Sharing is caring!

Look who finally came around to making a blog! I figured that this would be a good place for me to share my thoughts on just about anything that seems relevant. Hopefully in due time, this page will be filled with everything from videos, to designs, to articles, and everything in between!

To kick things off, I almost feel obligated to share this music video, Somebody That I Used to Know feat. Kimbra-- Gotye. A friend introduced it to me today, and I have been playing it on repeat ever since. It's definitely earned it's #1 spot in the charts in Australia. Gotye's voice is so hauntingly beautiful, I swear you'll become instantly hooked.



Another thing I love about this song is the music video. I have always been a fan of stop-motion, and love how it was integrated into the video. Since each frame is shot individually, you have to acknowledge the time that probably went into the production. Then there's the awesome body paint which probably took hours in itself as well! So much to appreciate with this song! Hopefully it can as much recognition in America as it has in Australia!