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Published: July 18th 2006
yay for today being a successful and satisfying day! the presentations were presented, so no more talking about branding!!! lol- i really and truly enjoyed the subject-- i think we were just ready to be finished after working from 9-5 the past few days.
the brand czech presented first at 9:00. visitors came from various important czech organizations, and it was a well done presentation. it was pretty much everything i expected them to present- basically everything we've been discussing/learning over the past week: all about the czech republic and their current situation. (the country doesn't have a strong brand ) katie and dionne were in that group along with a half of the czech students and three other mizzou students.
our presentation wasn't scheduled until 1:00, so we had a lunch break and then came back to practice. essentially what we have done over the past few days is answer all of those questions i included in another entry, and decide upon what we think the revised brand image for america should look like. then we had to put that into a power point presentation along with writing out a strategy. it was a great deal of discussion and heavy duty brainstorming. i definitely have a much greater appreciation for people in the advertising business, and while it is a lot of fun i don't think i'll be switching my major anytime soon (sorry, katie).
i presented the introduction of our presentation. i think if i type a little of it, the gist of our presentation will make sense.
"America's image today is very much a result of its past. We would first like to introduce a bit about America's history in an attempt to explain how its brand image came to be.
"When the new settlers came to this country from Europe, it was to escape persecution for holding different beliefs from those of the general population. As a result, individualism and constant striving for personal success became general expectations and goals. It was not only an issue of achievement, but also that of survival of the fittest.
"Coming to America, the pioneers were determined and optimistic about what the new world had to offer for them. Because of all they were able to achieve, Americans became determined to show their ways to the rest of the world. This determination has become intensified and permutated over the years, and as a result the world now views America very differently than it once did. Individualism has hyper-intensified, to the point where Americans are viewed as emotionless and materialistic, and the sense of helping has become one of meddling.
"We are here today to present a new idea of what we hope America's image can become. This image of a country is referred to as a brand, and the USA is the most well-known brand throughout the world. There is no product, place or person in the world with such wide, deep, powerful and lasting recognition and brand awareness. Sometimes it is called the 'Mother of All Brands.'
"If we want to build a strong brand USA, we do not have to strive to build increased levels of awareness, because people everywhere already know it. However, on the other hand, we have to create a much stronger and harder-working relationship amongst our current and potential target groups, and allow them to have a more positive and lasting experience with our brand. A relevant and renewed communications strategy is certainly the beginning to bringing about this desired result. Long-term and consistent communications will yield desired results."
that kind of summarizes what we set out to do- and through our presentation we proved that. we also created a concept board, or a collage of images we would like america to be associated with (in contrast to the one the czech students created before we arrived that showed the images they associate america with.)
so by 2 we were finished, and talked for a little bit with fritz cropp and margaret duffy (the heads of the international programming and advertising departments, respectively.) we complained a little to them about what was troubling us and our suggestions for how they might change it for next year. my biggest issue was the fact that the czech students prepared multiple presentations for us before we even arrived, and we had nothing prepared for when we first met with them. it was a little embarrassing, and made us feel like we were living up to our stereotypical american selves lol.
we left from there and went to the travel agency- where we purchased our packages (train ticket/hotel room) for vienna!!!! we leave friday morning and get back sunday afternoon-- we're very excited 😊 also, i only had to pay about $120 for train and hotel room for 2 nights- sounds awesome to me!
we're now relaxing a bit, and we might go out tonight with the czech students to celebrate being finished with the presentations. we'll just have to see...
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KT's Mom
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Congrats!
Congratulations on successfully completing your first class! I'm sure you have a great feeling of accomplishment ...and relief!! Glad to hear all went well. Celebrate!!