A Manifesto

As a requirement of our assignment, we are to write a summation of what we have learned for the past (10) weeks.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can draw conclusions from only what I've written here in my blog- mostly because a majority was written in one night. Try to think of my lapse in homework duties more as a nostalgia for the days of college.
I will however tie in what I've written with articles I've read and did not comment on. When I first came to Ithaca, I was one of the second class of incoming Integrated Marketing Communications majors. At my orientation, there were three of us. I honestly had no idea what I was doing and I even questioned if the college hadn't brought me here for an illegitimate purpose.
In the past two years, I have not only developed a personal understanding of the meaning of integrated marketing, but a passion for it. The selection of classes I have been exposed to, though sometimes frustrating, have given me new perspective on what I want to do when I leave the school.

As you can probably see, my first post is about TiVo and is mostly opinion. There is no hard data involved and I would like to prove my theory with some numbers. In February 2005, TiVo Inc. announced that it had hit it's 3 million mark of cumulative subscribers. With almost 300 million Americans owning televisions, it's astounding to believe that anyone thinks it's a threat. The real threat to advertising effectiveness is clutter and the development of human immunity to ads. That's right- a human immunity to ads created after seeing millions in a lifetime.
We also talked about sports sponsorships- in the Olympics and in International Tennis. While Wimbledon touches on an important feature of advertising- globalization- I would like to focus on one of the original advertising geniuses of our time: Nascar.
Imagine, 50 drivers racing around a track at a sport that brings millions to watch both live and at home. Thats hundreds of sponsors- from major players like Budweiser to the local sponsors that are usually small, 6 x 3 inch stickers on the side of the car. This is a sports sponsors' dream that has been largely ignored by the greater advertising community.

Thirdly, I think it is important to question why some have stayed far away from the profitable trend of product placement. Product Placement is quickly becoming the only viable option of getting brands on television. Toys for example, must walk a very fine line. A few years ago, there were major lawsuits against toy companies for creating advertising that made their products appear lifelike and gave them powers they didn't actually have. Using product placement too heavily could lead to more misunderstandings among children about what their favorite toy can actually do. The Childrens Advertising Review Unit (CARU) was set up to keep tabs and take complaints about unethical advertising.

Spending the past two years reading and learning about these issues has caused me to create a new belief about my major. I am studying marketing in an effort to make it more creative, more effective, and ethical.