Exactos and Interns

Last Friday was a day of firsts for me and for MAX Advertising. It was my first “Fun Friday” and it was the first time an employee of MAX Advertising was rushed to the E.R. Almost every Friday around lunchtime everyone in the office gets together and goes to lunch. This Friday we went to Fellini’s Pizza down the street and it was a great time – good food, drinks, and conversation.

It was definitely a good day up until we got back from lunch. After lunch, I was asked to cut some posters for an ad campaign that Jim had been working on all day. He warned me over and over about being careful with the sharp exacto knife, but I just brushed it off. I mean who cuts themselves with an exacto knife? I was carelessly cutting the posters when I realized I had just cut half the tip of my finger off. Why it took me so long to notice… hmm I don’t know. Lets just say never look away while using a sharp cutting instrument.

It looked like a murder scene. There was blood everywhere; all over the kitchen sink, the art table and I think I even bled on the posters. After Gregg, Ken and I tried to stop the bleeding we decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital. Gregg drove me to DeKalb Medical Center – a MAX Advertising client – to get me all stitched up. Six stitches later, my finger was as good as new. Everyone in the hospital was very nice and it only took about 30 min, which is amazingly fast in an E.R.

Instead of a word of the week, I’m going to go with the lesson of the week: Always pay attention when using sharp objects.

Other than that the week was a great week. We focused on pushing our new brand on Facebook, Twitter, and to clients. We got up to 200 Facebook fans in about 48 hours, which is awesome! We are also gearing up for the 6^th annual Business Expo on October 28^th. We are excited to showcase our new image to the public and are encouraging everyone to go. Our own fearless leader, Tom “snap, crackle, pop” Matte, will be presenting Arthur Blank as the speaker and we will have a booth set up at the event – booth 113. It will definitely be a day full of information and fun, so check it out!

Until next week,

Adios!

Snap, Crackle, MAX

As I start getting more comfortable at MAX, I’ve noticed and taken note of some of the hilarious, “normal” lingo around the office. I’ve decided that every week I write a blog I’m going to add in the “Quote/word of the week”. Even though most of the things said around the office aren’t near appropriate enough for an online blog, I’m going to try my best to keep it PG.

This week the quote is “Snap, Crackle, Pop” said by our one and only boss man, Tom Matte. Tom tends to shout this in fits of excitement or if he is referring to Nathan, the account executive.

I know I said last week that I was a pro at making coffee, but I soon realized I had no idea what I was doing. The third day in the office I shoved about 3 filters and just about the whole bag of coffee into the coffee maker. Yes, I know many of you are thinking…are you an idiot?? And, well, maybe I am, but when I was learning, or more rather being “trained” by Ashley, the past intern, she made it clear that I could put whatever in the coffee maker and it would be fine. This, I soon found out to be completely false. I flooded the entire counter with scalding hot coffee. Luckily, Jim caught the mess before it got any worse. Yea, I’m 23 and I just learned how to make coffee…

This week we launched our new website! I got the opportunity to work on the website with the help and training of Ken. I wrote some excerpts, I had input on a few of the case studies, and I got to publish my blog on the site. It has taken us a while to perfect this new site and I am proud to say it is finished…and if you haven’t looked at the whole site yet, you should!

Even more exciting, everyone in the office got to have a little photo shoot with Doug Coulter. None of us are models so it was quite entertaining. I think most of us took at least 60 shots each…so thank you Doug for dealing with us. You’ll be able to see these beautiful pictures on our Facebook page as well as our website, so just another reason to check us out!

Since our new site is finished, we are officially announcing our new name and image: MAX Advertising. We have a new Facebook page, under the name Max Advertising, and a new Twitter account: @maxadv.

Right now, I want you to go to our Facebook page, “like us” and while you’re at it, go to our Twitter page and follow us! We are an entertaining group to keep up with, so this will definitely bring some laughs into your day.

Until next week,

Ciao!!

My first week at Max Advertising

I feel like I am coming into Max Advertising at the perfect time. The company is re-branding as I am learning the ropes. I get to see first hand what goes into the long process of branding a company. Re-branding means changing the website, changing the logo, changing e-mail addresses, etc. Everything changes. It feels as though the agency has changed its identity overnight and I am so thrilled to be a part of Max Advertising during this exciting time.

I started this past Monday with my trainer and friend, Ashley helping me along the way. I was very nervous to start this internship because I love the advertising world and I want to do well. I get to have my own office, e-mail address and phone, which I didn’t get to have at my past internship-I feel like part of the group. I don’t just feel like a useless intern. So far, I’ve learned how to create job tickets, what goes into re-launching a brand and learned a little bit about HTML code…Oh, and I have finally learned how to make coffee

I haven’t learned everything, but I’m sure I will eventually learn everything there is to know about working in an advertising agency. I want to see and experience a presentation to a client, I want to learn more about the computer programs used for design, and I also want to learn the ins and outs of the account executive position. Along with all of that, I also want to know:

Why is Nathan obsessed with Snooki?

Where does Tom shop?

How much time does Tom spend on his hair every morning?

How does Christie deal with Tom’s enormous personality?

What’s the gender of Julie’s upcoming baby?

Does anyone else have any more office paraphernalia I can steal to put in my office?

Can Ken update my Illustrator on my computer?

Why is the Internet so slow?

Can you hire me when my internship is up?… I already don’t want to leave

WHO left the mug, filled with coffee, fermenting in the cabinet for 3 months? I didn’t appreciate the surprise shower of rotting coffee all over my white shirt… initiation? Not funny.

Whenever you start a new job you never really know the people you work with until you’ve been there for a while. Here are my first impressions of the people here and the agency…

Agency-high energy, very creative, modern, genuine, professional, close with their clients, family

Tom- boss man, high energy, funny, creative, has big ideas, people person

Christie-boss woman, creative, hard-worker, holds the place together

Ken-creative, web savvy and Photoshop savvy, Michael Jackson attire

Nathan-crazy, artistic, flirty, tattooed, Snooki lover

Jim-creative, busy, logo mastermind, Adobe Illustrator savvy, good with words

Beth-knowledgeable, professional, intuitive, witty

Julie-sweet, down to earth, smart, pregnant, good sense of humor

Gregg-professional, hoarder, even tempered, kind

Last post as a college student!

So, I'm moving on. No more college life for me. I'm graduating this Saturday, May 8. My whole family is coming down to celebrate! It's time for me to go experience the real world and start my career as a PR professional. When I look back at everything I learned in PR I find myself concentrating on these top ten learning experiences.

1. Don't be scared to take charge. I was nervous to be the Relay for Life decorations coordinator, but I jumped right in and everything worked out. I gained a lot of experience and respect for PR event planners.
2. Every idea is a good idea! Even if your idea isn't picked, it might lead to a better one.
3. If you are going to be a PR professional make sure you have A LOT of time and caffeine, and if you don't have time, you better be good at time management. Know that you will be running on no sleep about 90 percent of the time.
4. Stay motivated and organized. I had to keep myself motivated when I was tired and I didn't want to do anymore work. Staying organized cut down on my time spend doing work.
5. I know you've heard this since elementary school, but its important---Always have a good attitude, especially when you are in PR. When you are working with people, it makes it so much easier when are nice.
6. ALWAYS have a back-up plan. Working on our final PR event this semester, I learned that a back-up plan is always necessary. Things change so you have to make sure you're ready for every possible situation.
7. Another really important thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you are right, you're not, the client has the final say and really only say.
8. Be on your feet at your event. Make sure you stay alert and know what is going on, you don't want to look unprepared and uninterested.
9. Network, network, network. Make sure you are meeting people and giving out your information...you never know when you might land your next job.
10. Know everything about social media.

So good luck future GC&SU PR students!

Corporate Social Responsibility-Final Paper

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an issue many companies are facing today. It is also known as corporate citizenship, responsible business or sustainable responsible business (Werhane). Whatever you call it, almost every large corporation embraces these ethical standards and international norms. Every business, small or large, is becoming involved with CSR; it is now becoming a deciding factor in whether or not consumers are willing to shop at that business (Werhane).
One business that is becoming involved with corporate social responsibility is CVS. CVS is a pharmacy as well as an all around, one stop shop. It carries baby care products, medicine, prescriptions, personal care, skin care, food and vitamins. CVS first became involved with CSR in 2008 when it released its first CSR report called, CVS Caremark. In this report it discusses issues like prescription safety, customer privacy, environmental management, as well as the safety of its products such as personal care items (Christal). Other issues the report covers includes providing a good workplace, making a difference in local communities, and one of CVS’s major concerns in the report is helping children with disabilities and healthcare for the uninsured (Christal). CVS took a look into the major issues that not only affect their customers but also their employees and developed this Caremark plan to take more social responsibility.
This report includes CVS Caremark Programs that range from infants to the elderly (CVS Caremark). These programs include, cash grants, in-kind contributions, sponsorships and fund-raising endeavors, as well as CVS employees’ charitable giving and volunteerism (CVS Caremark).
The program that involves CVS’s major concern, children with disabilities, is a program that helps kids from birth to when they reach the age of 18. This program is called the CVS Caremark All Kids Can program. This program is a five-year program, $25 million commitment to making the lives of children with disabilities easier (CVS Caremark). The program’s main goal is to raise awareness for the obstacles that kids with disabilities face, including medical rehabilitation (CVS Caremark). It provides support for non-profit organizations and local communities that focus on children with disabilities to help them in three main areas: learn, play and succeed in life (CVS Caremark). Some of the organizations partnering up with the CVS Caremark program to help children with disabilities include Easter Seals, Boundless Playgrounds, Meeting Street, and VSA arts (CVS Caremark). The National Center for Boundless Playgrounds is an organization that focuses on establishing playgrounds where kids, with and without disabilities, can play side-by-side (CVS Caremark). CVS Caremark program is going to give Boundless Playgrounds $1.1 million to help the cause (CVS Caremark). The other organization, Meeting Street School, is known for their dedication to helping kids with all abilities (CVS Caremark). This includes being a pioneer in education, early intervention, childhood development and related clinical services (CVS Caremark). Easter Seals is an organization that has received recognition as the nation’s premiere resource and nonprofit health care provider for people with disabilities (CVS Caremark). Easter Seals has over 550 million service sites across the country and focuses on medical rehabilitation, childcare, camping and recreation, job training and employment, as well as adult day services (CVS Caremark). VSA arts is one of CVS’s newest partners in the CVS Caremark All Kids Can program (CVS Caremark). This organization is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities learn through, participating in and enjoying the arts (CVS Caremark).
Another thing CVS is doing to uphold their reputation in social responsibility is becoming involved in Earth Day. In honor of Earth Day, CVS is donating five cents to the World Wildlife Fund for every GreenBag Tag sold in their store and GreenBag Tag holders are rewarded if they decline plastic shopping bags (PRNewswire). They are starting this April 1st to support the WWF in helping protect the future of nature around the world (PRNewswire). The GreenBag Tag is a leaf-shaped tag that is made up of recycled materials and it is only 99 cents to purchase (PRNewswire). This encourages CVS's ExtraCare cardholders to use recycled bags or no bags at all when carrying out items bought at CVS (PRNewswire).
All of these programs help establish CVS’s business. Having a part in bettering communities and other social responsibilities will allow for a better world and future. It is important for established businesses to realize that they have a part in corporate social responsibility.









Work Cited:

Christal, Nancy. CVS Caremark Releases Company’s First Corporate Social
Responsibility Report. Woonsocket, RI (May 6, 2008). Retrieved from: http://info.cvscaremark.com/newsroom/press-releases/cvs-caremark-releases-company%E2%80%99s-first-corporate-social-responsibility-report

CVS Caremark. CVS/Pharmacy. Date Retrieved: April 26, 2010. Retrieved from:
http://info.cvscaremark.com/community/our-impact

Werhane, H. Patricia. Corporate Social Responsibility/Corporate Moral Responsibility.
Is there a Difference and the Difference it Makes. Retrieved from:
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wrDJpCuodNwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA459&dq=corporate+social+responsibility%2BCVS&ots=59ZnqUI1Ya&sig=BYN0EVds_Ua0Qzmo1RBXWhZzVfM#v=onepage&q=corporate%20social%20responsibility%2BCVS&f=false


Woonsocket, R.I. PRNewswire. CVS/pharmacy To Support World Wildlife Fund with
Sales of GreenBagTag. (March 29, 2010). Retrieved from:
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/cvs-green-bag-tag/41563/

Is Social Media Important?

Just the other day I was walking with one of my friends and she asked, "Why is learning about social media so important?". I seem to hear this a lot around campus so I decided to take a closer look into the importance of social media.

Companies and people use social media to get a message out to a lot of people in a short amount of time. It is a way to stay updated with information from people and companies. Examples of some forms of social media are Twitter, Facebook, blogging and LinkedIn. Social media will raise awareness of your company. Social media is especially important in my major, which is Mass Communication. Since social media is such a big part of companies and the Mass Communication Department, most of my classes teach us how to use social media. This year I've learned how to blog and use Twitter. Since most students already know how to use Facebook, our classes did not use much time going over it. I am so fortunate to have professors to teach us one of the newest forms of mass communication. My recommedation to companies trying to raise awareness is to learn how to use social media! It will help you out in the long wrong and keep you up with the times.

Check me out on Twitter: CaraRyanW

Peace Corps

So after traveling to Belize, Panama and Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I wanted to make a change in the world. I wanted to be able to help people who need help. I was able to see a lot of the three countries and I thought they were absolutely beautiful! Though, some parts of the countries were devastated with poverty and crime. While traveling in Panama, my friends and I met an older man who showed us around his country. He was very wary of me and one of my friends wondering off without him. He warned us about how dangerous it could be for us to be alone in certain parts of Panama.
I've always thought about joining the Peace Corps, but this really pushed me to want to do it. If I join the Peace Corps after my internship, I will be sent to a random country to work on any issues ranging from AIDS to environmental conservation for 27 months of tough work. Even the application process can take a long time. The application to invitation can take anywhere from six to twelve weeks. It's definitely a commitment I would have to think long and hard about. I feel as though if I do not do it now, I'll never do it.



Click here for more information about the Peace Corps.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is an issue many companies are facing today. It is also known as corporate citizenship, responsible business or sustainable responsible business. Whatever you call it, almost every large corporation embraces these ethical standards and international norms.

One company that is involved in this is CVS. In honor of Earth Day, CVS is donating five cents to the World Wildlife Fund for every GreenBag Tag sold in their store and GreenBag Tag holders are rewarded if they decline plastic shopping bags. They are starting this April 1st to support the WWF in helping protect the future of nature around the world.

The GreenBag Tag is a leaf-shaped tag that is made up of recycled materials and it is only 99 cents to purchase. This encourages CVS's ExtraCare card holders to use recycled bags or no bags at all when carrying out items bought at CVS.

To find out more about CVS and its role in the WWF check out this article: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/cvs-green-bag-tag/41563/

Mall Event

Our final event in PR has finally come! Our booth was set up this past Saturday, March 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our booth was set up to promote shoplocalmilledgeville.com.
Courtney, Brooke and I got to the mall around 9 a.m. and set up all of the posters, hand-outs, and put together the "game". We also placed surveys on the table to gather information for research. We got at least 20 people to play our guessing game (guess how many businesses are in Milledgeville) and we passed out at least 50 hand-outs to people. We talked to so many people and I feel like we really accomplished what we were supposed to do. I feel like we left Digital Bridges with some good design work and some good PR work. Now its time to put together our final campaign book!
I'm excited to see everyone else's events!


Make sure you fan ShopLocalMilledgeville on Facebook!

Digital Bridges

So the day has come! My group, Brooke, Courtney and I, have worked so hard this semester brainstorming, creating, and planning our event that is this Saturday. Since this is our last PR class we wanted to make sure we learned everything we could from this last event before we are thrown out into the real world!
Over the past months we've met with our client, built a campaign and event, and created some PR pieces like posters, handouts, and kept up with Digital Bridges Facebook Fan page. I've learned so much about working with other people and time management.
Everyone in our class was split up into groups and our assignment was to promote a certain part of Digital Bridges. Some groups had to promote digital literacy, while our group was in charge of Digital Bridge's new endeavor, Shop Local Milledgeville. Some of our promotional material explained why it is important to shop local and our event is going to bring it all together. Our event is this Saturday from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. at the Milledgeville Mall, so make sure you come stop by!

Dance Marathon-It's for the kids!

Dance Marathon is an event held every year at Georgia College & State University, as well as 80 other college campuses. This event celebrates raising money for local children's hospitals. One of the closest children's hospital to this campus is the Children's Hospital in Macon. My sorority, Phi Mu, visits the hospital as much as possible considering Children's Miracle Network is our philanthropy.

This year Dance Marathon will be on March 6, 2010 from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. in Magnolia Ballroom. In past years the event was 12 hours standing on your feet doing activities to support the Children's Hospital, but this year it will only be held for 8 hours.

During the event, children from the hospital come visit and tell us their stories. We get to meet some of the kids and we play games throughout the whole day. During the 8 hours on our feet, someone leading the group will usually create a dance that everyone follows every so often. This dance keeps everyone going and ready for more! It's more like a "motivational" dance.

I have done Dance Marathon every year since I've known about it. I am really excited to spend my upcoming Saturday doing something beneficial for my community, helping the children at the local children's hospital.

Come out and support a good cause!

PRSSA-Real World 2010

PR Real World was on Friday, February 19 this year. About 10 members of GCSU's PRSSA, including me, traveled up to Atlanta at 5:30 a.m. for the event. Since GCSU is about two hours away from Atlanta the whole crew decided to meet at Starbucks and caravan all the way up in good ole Atlanta traffic!

The event lasted from 8 a.m. to around 4 p.m.; though, unfortunately, I couldn't stay the whole time. I left around 2 p.m. to avoid traffic and to make it back to school for my last homecoming weekend!

I have never been able to attend PR Real World, so I had no idea what to expect. I was nervous because we were going to be meeting actual PR professionals and I wanted to make a good impression!

At the event, we got to pick the seminars we wanted to attend during each session. I chose to attend "agency vs. corporation", "non-profit" and "resume tips". All of these gave me valuable information, but I really enjoyed the "agency vs. corporation". The three speakers talked about their careers and how they got there. One of the speakers, Ellen Hartmann, talked about how she was able to have a family and be a successful PR professional at the same time. Her speech was really inspiring to me because I want to be able to have a family and a career also. I'm really glad Ms. Hartmann came and I thank her for sharing her story with us.

Since I'm graduating in May I won't be able to attend another PR Real World as a PRSSA student. I am very glad I got to attend this one and hopefully I will be able to come back next year with valuable information for other students!

Ms./Mr. GCSU

It's campaigning time! Every year Georgia College & State University puts on Mr. and Ms. GCSU. An individual is nominated from any and almost every student organization to compete against others for the title of Ms. and Mr. GCSU. Last year my good friend and sorority sister, Keri Allgood, won along side of Delta Sigma Phi representative, Tyler Anderson.
A week before voting, organizations are allowed to go onto campus and chalk, publicize their candidate on Facebook through groups and/or events, put up flyers and pass out delicious treats. This year Phi Mu is passing out brownies for their candidate, Emily Brown. Everything goes into these campaigns from slogans to fancy, colorful, and expensive promotional material.
I worked as the PR chair for Phi Mu a couple of years ago when Phi Mu picked Jennifer Shannon as their representative for Ms. GCSU. I worked day and night for weeks getting everything put together. I had to create the slogan as well as getting every piece of PR material perfect and ready for distribution. I assigned people to different times during the day to chalk and to work tables where we passed out materials such as cookies and flyers. It was a lot of work, but it definitely paid off. I learned a lot about PR before I even started taking PR classes at GCSU. If it wasn't for this event who knows what Major I would have picked?! I'm glad I made the right decision!

It's that time of the year!

Super Bowl XLIV was aired on CBS on Sunday night at 7 p.m. The Saints won their first Super Bowl against the Colts! Though, I paid more attention to the advertisements than the game! Some of my favorites this year were the Doritos commercial called "Dog Gets Revenge" and Career Builder's "Casual Fridays". Some other good one's were the Dodge Charger Commercials and the Bud Light Commercials featuring T-Pain. I always like the more humorous commercials. Of course the GoDaddy.com commercials were with the usual girls attracting attention by doing something sexual. I think it's safe to say that we are all getting sick of these. Then of course there was the Tim Tebow ad, which had all of the controversy surrounding it. Was the Super Bowl the right place to air this kind of ad? The commercial, honestly, didn't grab my attention at all the first time.
It seemed as though, overall, the themes of this year's Super Bowl advertisements were women being knocked over and pants less men. I wonder what next year's Super Bowl ads will bring us...more naked people?

Twitter Challenge!

So this week my PR Campaigns class was challenged/assigned to "tweet" 35 times in one week. This meant we had to get on Twitter about 5 times a day and respond to people by @replies, post links in our tweets, and basically just get used to using Twitter professionally. We also had to start a list and add people into it. My list was called "PR Campaigns" and in that list I added everyone that is in my PR class. I figured this would make it easier for me to communicate with the whole class.
Now, when I first started this assignment I was skeptical. I know how to use Twitter, but I have always had a hard time seeing the significance of it. As soon as I followed more professionals and started tweeting more, I realized that Twitter is a very important social media tool. I was able to network with PR professionals all over the world. I got responses to my posts within minutes, rather than e-mailing people, which can take forever for a response.
I encourage everyone to take the "Twitter Challenge". It will open up many opportunities! So, go to, http://twitter.com/ and follow me at CaraRyanW.

Digital Bridges

This year, in PR Campaigns, our client is Digital Bridges. Digital Bridges is a non-profit organization that bridges business and technology. They hold "brown-bag" luncheons and other workshops to teach people that technology is important, especially for businesses. In this day and age, people use technology for everything! It is important to keep up with the technology trends to keep your business successful.
Well, back to the "project", our class was divided up into 4 target groups and from there we will create campaigns to raise awareness for Digital Bridges. I have Courtney and Brooke in my group so I know we will do well!

Good luck to everyone! It's our last semester!

For more information about Digital Bridges, visit: http://thedigitalbridges.org/db/home/home.html