Drinking Culture

We discussed some questions, in groups, about drinking in general.

How often do you drink per week or per month?
Who in your group drinks the least/the most or not at all?
What is the drink you like the most?
What is the most popular drink in your group?
What country do you think drinks the most as a group, why?
Who was the youngest when you had your first drink, who was the oldest
?Where did you have your first drink, with famiily or with friends?
Where do you prefer to drink and why?
What are some things you don't like about drinking?

We listened to This American Life, a non-profit radio show in the U.S. The episode was no. 396: #1 Party School, and about drinking at a large University located in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. The link to the episode and transcripts can be found here. If you are interested by beer, there is a good documentary on beer called, American Beer. You can see a trailer for it here.

We discussed how U.S. wine consumption surpassed French Wine consumption in March 2011. Americans consume 329 million cases of wine. An example of a successful wine seller in the States is Gary Vaynerchuk, who started his website in 1997 to sell wine. He now sells 60 million dollars of wine a year through his site. He offers video wine reviews through his site as well.

Link to the article with episode and transcript: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135578933/a-wine-bloggers-guide-to-social-media-for-business
Link to Gary's video review of Saumur & Chinon Wines: http://tv.winelibrary.com/category/saumur-champigny/
Gary's Review of Chateau Clinet in Pomerol, Bordeaux with Owner:
http://tv.winelibrary.com/2008/07/16/bordeaux-adventures-commence-at-chateau-clinet-episode-502/

Travel Advertising Campaign

The finished product will be a 2 - 3 page paper, in complete sentences on your process. Explaining why you choose to market a tour or destination in the way that you chose. You will present on October 24th for 5-10 minutes. I will stop people after 10 minutes. You will have access to the computer and projector, as well as internet.

Select one of the following topics to choose as the subject of your media campaign by the end of the week (7th October): (If you are feeling motivated, create a product of your own. Be sure to verify with me first.)

• The Island of Dolls, near Mexico City, Mexico
  


• Chernobyl, Ukraine



• Waitomo Glowworm Caves, New Zealand
  


• North Korea
  


• Death Valley, California
  


• Nebraska or Kansas
  

The job of advertisers, no matter what the product, is to make the product look attractive. You must know the target audience of your product, who you are trying to sell to; and think of the types of things they are going to be interested in. You want to capture their interest, and convince them the new tour is cool and worth their money.

Imagine you are in charge of developing these aspects of the advertising campaign for a travel package. Imagine I am the head of your agency; you will be "pitching" (giving) your ideas to me in a presentation format.

Your presentation must address these area of the advertsing campaign.

SLOGAN - catchphrase, motto, or tagline of your product. It is something memorable.

BUZZWORDS - developed from your brainstorm of what the product should be, these words generate interest and describe your product

TARGET AUDIENCE - this is exactly who you are selling to; you should know their age, where they are from, what kind of interests they have

MEDIA - Viral/Internet or Multimedia/Multiplatform Campaigns with Print. There are many different ways to get information out to your audience. Based on your choice of a website, facebook page, twitter account, or other types of internet and printed media, will change how your audience will interact with your brand. I want you at the very least, describe the look of your advertisments. You can choose to support your description with photographs or other visual support. The sky is the limit, you can make facebook pages, a powerpoint presentation, whatever you would like to do. Keep in mind, its still an English project, and your use of English is being graded.

SUMMARY - Conclusion; it is a presentation, so remember its important to have a few short closing remarks.

Here are links to the travel campaigns we looked at in class and others.

Montana, There's Nothing Here : http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2011/5132

travelocity.com : The Roaming Gnome : http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2011/4842

homeaway.com Griswold Hotel Hell Vacation : http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2011/5274

Chicago's the Field Museum, Sue Escapes : http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2011/4639

This is My Milwaukee : http://thisismymilwaukee.com/

Post any questions to the comments section.