The Day & Life of a Media Design Student

I can’t believe this is the last month of grad school in my Entertainment Business-Sports program. Throughout the 12 months of my grad school journey I have learned so many different things that would take me into the business world ahead of many others. I never thought in the 12 months of grad school that I would be putting together so much for a business that I was only dreaming about that could possibly one day become a reality for myself, for my business, and into my community. I thought that this course of Business Plan that I would be stressed, overwhelmed, and just flat out over school, but I actually was excited to really submerse myself in learning what it takes to make a business plan be successful, and grow into what is going to be appealing to others.

Throughout the month of the course Business Plan Development I really wanted to give my class a 110% because this would be something that I could really benefit from in the following month to come. It has been interesting to say the least because I really had to think in depth about many of the things I never thought I would have to beforehand about the business that I wanted to do. I basically had before this course only thought about the basics of the future of my business, not the things to make the gears move more fluently. My goal was really met because I thought out everything for currently wanting and desiring, to what I wanted at least four years down the road and went with it.

Throughout the month of the April it had been one of learning experiences that I enjoyed as it was a challenge. Yes, I enjoyed every moment of being challenged in my academic experience of my months of sports. I have always wondered many different options on how companies experience the processes with the gaining of sponsorship, how they market to the different avenues of getting more bang for their buck, and then accomplishing a goal of the one that they set. One thing that I found interesting during it all is how many different NASCAR drivers, or teams are gaining the sponsorship and having to advertise with them. It has always been of interest as I have always thought it was interesting with their suits covered in sponsorship, along with their cars. What I learned through this was not as complicated as I thought it would be. “First, let’s deal with the cost. According to Adweek, a primary sponsorship in 2013 cost anywhere from $5 million to $35 million. In 2013, an associate sponsorship cost anywhere from $250,000 to $2 million, according to Adweek.” (NASCAR.com, 2015) What this means is that the hood of the car is a different cost than the bumper of the car, or the side panels of the car. We all can market the sponsorship on a different level and NASCAR for me has been on a different level of marketing their sponsorship in sports for many years. In order to market you need to know the ins and outs of who you are marketing, what goals they want to meet, the demographics they are also trying to reach, and for how long that the sponsorship is needing to be marketed.

With the time of learning the field of sports and where I would like to be placed in it, I think my main focus for my future would have to be in the gaining of learning how to work with sponsors and what it would take to help them market their brand into the sport that I hope to be working for one day. Like many sports they have theme nights, giveaways, and even just to post their ads around the stadium or arena that the game is being held at. I personally would love to be able to learn how to reach the fans unlike many others have done, how to get them back into the sports that they desire to watch, and what it would take to grow that team’s franchise further than they are. One great piece of advice I read was actually one thing that I hope to take with me to my future in the sports industry. “Create “sponsorship programs” with incentives for growth, and create a marketing message and online form to only attract racers who are willing to carry out what you want and need—these are the keys to success for all involved. This also teaches racers to become better marketers for you, and your company grows as a result! Through your ideal programs, you will also help grow the sport as a whole—securing a better future for all of us.” (Strawhand, 2015) Everyone has a different level of how much they can and will put towards their marketing with a sponsor so giving them the chance to see the different levels it would accomplish more than it might if you give them one option. Giving the chance to reach out on marketing packages and having tiers to them packages entices them that they don’t have to spend all their money at once. You now have a great marketing plan, how do you figure out who you want to sponsor and how you want to sponsor because that is going to determine how big the plan for your budget and so forth is going to be. Like many different plans is it going to be one to give people short glimpses of who is being sponsored or non stop? “Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor have ramped up their respective presences with regards to sponsoring college football teams. As is mentioned in the video below shortly after the 2:30 mark, it makes much more sense for a brand to pay advertising money to have their symbol and or brand name on jerseys of players who are on the screen for three or more hours.” (Richards, 2015) For many sponsors they want to lay it out in anything that they can but for many sponsors, they try to be somewhat discrete who they are supporting or helping out through their sponsorship. This takes time to figure out but in the long run, it could be one of great asset.

So now that you have figured out all the little details of sponsorships and how to market them, you have to know figure out for how long you are wanting to be a sponsor and how long to be out in the market. Some a few days, others weeks, and many can be years. It all depends once again on that budget, and what the goals are in the end. “In 1925, Ford made the decision to sponsor Australia’s Geelong Football Club and 91 years later, the automobile company is still the club’s main sponsor and has been key in providing support to the club, through the good times and the bad times. Ford aren’t the only company with long standing sponsorship relationships. From Coca-Cola and the Olympic Games, to Canon and the World Cup tournaments, sponsorships are spanning decades with no end in sight.” (clipperroundtheworld.com, 2017) These companies have chosen to continue marketing their sponsorship due to the loyalty to who they are with. This shows the moral of the company, how they feel about dedication, and much more.

 As for me and the future in the business of sports, I hope that I’m given the chance to work many of the techniques that many classes has taught me along with the research that I have done of great companies. In the words of Tommy Hilfiger "The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it's possible to achieve the American dream." With that being said, I plan on doing just that.

  References Malfitana-Strawhand, A. 

Nascar.com.  

No Letting Go: Why the sponsorship game is a long one. 

During this exciting month, I really enjoyed getting to step back into the sports industry studies. I completely enjoy getting to drown myself into it and learning the little things of what the management and operations intakes. I feel that with all the information that was given throughout the month was something that I can take with me through the rest of my time at Full Sail University but also in the sports industry. My favorite part of the class is getting to hear our guest speaker videos and discuss the personal challenges that he had faced throughout his years as to helping grow each team that he had worked with. His advice of how to handle productions of building a growing team, stadium, and having the city wanting to get more involved is something that is interesting to make the fan’s experience one of the best ones to have them coming to the games over and over again.

Currently I am taking a Digital Marketing course and I love being able to learn more ways to be marketable in the industry that I’m hoping enter into deeper once I graduate in June of 2017. Throughout the course my hopes are to be able to overcome some of the challenges of the social media marketing aspect. When trying to market even outside of social media, it’s a challenge due to the vast variety of professionals in the areas that I am to live in. Along with how to market better, I want to learn the rights and wrongs of the digital marketing world. It’s something that I know from previous experience that marketing will change from location to location, but knowing how to properly change with that location change is what I would like to learn.

The month of November has been one of exploring the in depth of finance with the Entertainment Business Finance class. Throughout the course we had been brought to the attention of a deeper idea of what is needed for starting or building our business. I have been doing photography for a number of years but have been successful on building it every time that I have had to relocate to a different state. I had always thought of the things that would get my business successful when we are to stay in one location, but never to this extent. I plan on using many of the tips and tricks as I know that without them, I will be losing money or unorganized as to what might come up for my future. One great thing that I have learned through it is to really look into having help. Hiring a lawyer on standby if something is to happen, an accountant to help with a budget, and also someone to look into marketing into different areas that I haven’t already.

           During my Executive Leadership class, we have been reading two different leadership textbooks about different styles of leaders. One book is by Maxwell, basically the do good book, and the other is by Greene, the think better than all leadership book. Throughout thinking of leadership styles, I really enjoyed reading about Greene’s Laws. I feel like Greene puts into perspective of how you should do things in ways that many others should treat you. As someone that is growing a photography business, I feel like when given the opportunity to we should always act like we are hoping to. Throughout Greene’s book it is almost a book that helps you better yourself in a different way that you will also build your confidence in how you perform your task.

Throughout my class of Brand Development, my reflection first reflection was that I could not believe that I was completing my last week’s tasks for this class. It is interesting to say the least on how much we can intake in just a few short weeks. My first of the final three reflections of the class is thankfully with this class all I tend to think about now is branding, what makes it stronger, how a company, even a person can make a brand stronger. In our textbook it’s even pointed out! “Acknowledge that we live in a branded world.” (Wheeler, 2012) We really do live in such a branded world. Everything is a brand, everyone has a go to brand and we all tend to have those brands we like.

The second would be something that we probably have read throughout our class readings but as I have been reading the Zag book in spare time, really stay true to what brand you are trying to be for yourself. “A trueline is the one true thing you can say about your brand, based on your onliness statement.” (Neumeier, 2007) We are a brand ourselves, so why not make it the best and stay true to what we believe in, give true statements about ourselves, and because of this there is no hiding behind something that we are not. We can honestly say that we are overcoming a journey daily because of that.

My third and final thought isn’t really about what we learned but how I really felt about this class. I have been with Full Sail since August of 2013 and during that time I felt at home, thankfully this was the first time that I felt it again because I felt like I was getting into what we were really studying, working on, and that we had a teacher even when the grading may have been tough, she was there at a moments notice to answer questions, and really did challenge many of us. As someone that is building a photography business currently once again in a new area, I have taken many of the things put in front of us, and putting it into really building something that I will always be proud of. Throughout the course we had fun making logo mockups for our Week 1 & 2 project. We had been given the chance to really put them out to customers and how they would visualize them. For me it was having a parent or grandparent of a toddler see the logo and be taken back to their childhood and playing with wooden blocks. 

After we then made the logos, we was asked to also put them on something that we would most likely put them on in the company. Mine were the tags that is on the items of purchase, the bag you then put the items you purchase, and lastly a box that could be used as either a storage box for blocks or a puzzle.

The class was great to really get into the makeup of what it takes to really become a strong and viable brand, and what you can do to also rebrand yourself into something bigger and better than it was before. Overall I had fun in the class and I can not wait to see what the next class has to offer my classmates and myself.

 Thank you,

Angela Streit

 References:

Neumeier, M. (2007). Zag: The number-one strategy of high-performance brands: A whiteboard overview. San Francisco, CA: New Riders.

During the class this month I really learned how to communicate more than I have ever. I am not one to really give strong feedback on someone’s work because I do not like to offend someone after they have put a lot of hard work and time into a project. The class had really taught me how to really see things that needed to be fixed, how to grow on from it, and also how to really take it myself. Giving the feedback to someone does not by any means mean that you are shooting their work down, it is merely giving them something that would work for you if you were a client. Having to help a person grow from very little knowledge to feeling like they have a good grasp is thankfully how I feel on this now after the four weeks in my class. Something that I really took to heart this week about having your work criticized was, not to take it personal, but to take it as a growing point.

Another thing that I really learned from the class was to really listen. Take to heart what the classmates have to say because they are growing also. We had to learn to be the designer and really think to ourselves how much the classmate could be the client. We as designers have to give a client what they want, but we also have to give them something that could work for them for a year or more. ““Taste” is subjective, and no one will admit that they don’t have any. Thus designers often find themselves explaining aesthetic decisions with formal design or typographic principles.” (O’Grady, 2009). This to me also states that we have to listen, help interpret and give them as much as they are trying to tell us even if it means that we are having to recreate over and over to get it just right.

Three things that I took away from this class that will really stick with me:

1.     Take advice even if we think it stings just a little.

2.     Listen to what people want and know that you might have to try again.

3.     Give your own advice and feedback to other designers because they can also grow as you are growing as you are giving them it.

Recently our instructor had asked us to create a Behance page to add many different things that we create in the next few months of the program. Feel free to add feedback as I’m always up for learning and trying out something new!

Photo Credit: mainstreammultimedia.net

Month One-Mastery Personal Development and Leadership:

Goal: To obtain the tools to succeed in personal development and to help me achieve great leadership skills.   Strategies: 1:Read the Robert Greene book Mastery 2:Study Techniques that will help me advance in my industry. 3: Watch Robert Greene’s YouTube video.

Month Two-Defining Client Needs: Goal: During this course I hope to learn how to find out how to communicate properly with clients and how to build relationships with them. Strategies: 1: I plan to read the textbook or information given by the instructor. 2: Study “Running a Design Business: Freelancing” on Lynda.com 3: Watch the YouTube Video By Ago Cluytens “Want to Understand Client Needs?” Month Three-Brand Development: Goal: To learn how to evaluate the companies brands and the proper way to promote them. Strategies: 1: Read the Textbook “The Brand Gap” By Marty Meumeier 2: Study different companies and how they have developed their brands that haven’t been brought to the attention during the class. 3: Study the “Branding Fundamentals” on lynda.com

Month Four-Effective Copywriting: Goal: My goal for this course is to learn how to successfully write better then I do currently. I also want to master the professional side of writing. Strategies: 1: Read the “Brilliant Copywriting” by Roger Horberry 2: Watch the “Creating an Effective Content Strategy for Your Website” on lynda.com 3: Attend more writing classes or meet with the writing workshops all through Full Sail University.

Month Five-Design Research: Goal: During this course I hope to learn how to do the proper research of design. Strategies: 1: Read the “Designer’s Research Manual” by Jenn + Ken Visocky O’Grady 2: Take the “Foundations of Design Research” course on Lynda.com 3: Take the “Utilize Different Research Tools to Begin the Design Process” course on lynda.com

Month Six-Organization Structures: Goal: During this course I hope to gain the knowledge of how to research and stay better organized. Strategies: 1: To really study the information and textbook that the Instructor gives the class. 2: Take the course “The Role of Marketing Research in an Organization” on Lynda.com 3: Whats the study.com video “What is Organizational Structure of Management & Examples” and take their quiz.

Month Seven-Design strategies and Motivation: Goal: My goal for this course is to touch upon everything I have learned throughout my previous classes. Strategies: 1: Read “Design Management: Managing Design Strategy, Process, and Implementation” by Kathryn Best 2: Take the course “Designing Growth Strategies” on Lynda.com 3: Watch the Nathan Shedroff vimeo.com video “Design Strategy & the Merging of Business and Design”

Month Eight-Design integration: Goal: My goal of this course is to find out many new design techniques and how to expand my creativeness. Strategies: 1: Read “Media Ethics” by Clifford G. Christians 2: Watch the vimeo.com video “Documentary: Media Ethics” from Larry Knight 3: Take the lynda.com course “Business Ethics”

Month Nine-Multi-Platform Delivery: Goal: My goad of this class would be to learn the many platforms of delivery in the field of career choice and how to deliver on them. Strategies: 1: Read “Zag” by Marty Neumeier 2: Take the “Understand the Publish Online platform” course on Lynda.com 3: Watch the FIPP youtube.com video on “How to innovate continually to build a multiplatform media giant”

Month Ten-Measuring Design Effectiveness: Goal: During this course my goal is to be able to learn the many things I can of design and how to reestablish what is not and is working for me in my design work. Strategies: 1: Read our textbook and other resources given to us. 2: Read the book “Design Studies” off of ScienceDirect.com 3: Practice my design skills and ask peers for advice.

Month Eleven-Thesis: Goal: During this course my plan is to give my best of how much I have learned and work it into one of the best final piece that I can. Strategies: 1: Refresh myself through all the information throughout the prior 11 months that has been taught to me. 2: Read what information that is given to me by my instructor. 3: Communicate with my classmates that I am working with.