Article version 2 of Simone van Riet Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 3:20 pm

The use of ‘Public Relations’

An article wrote by Simone van Riet.

PR, short for Public Relations, is an element of advertising and is defined as ‘a promotion intended to create goodwill for a person or institutions image’. (This is according to the internet site Wikipedia.)

PR is actually a very old tool to promote or advertise. It came into existence in the United States of America. There’s evidence that they already used PR, like lobbying and press relations, back in the 18th century. At that time the term ‘Public Relations’ didn’t exist yet.
Around 1890, while the United States expanded their railroads, many PR practices were developed. In ‘1897 Year Book of Railway Literature’ the term is used for the first time.

Trough the years PR became more and more popular. And now, roughly 250 years later, we can’t picture advertising without PR. In today’s industry corporations are using PR to announce information about their products or about the services they offer, to trigger potential customers. Corporations also use PR to expose themselves as open-minded, innovative, creative, environment friendly or whatever. Not only corporations, but also non-profit organizations are using Public Relations. These organizations make use of PR trying to get some notion and support for their programs or their goals. And when politicians make use of PR, they most of the time try to attract votes or to raise money. So although most seen as corporate servants, almost any organization has at least one PR manager.

The job of this PR-specialist is to form and improve the reputation of a person, company or a government. This specialist generates positive publicity by maintaining contacts with journalists, set up speaking appointments, writing speeches, etcetera. It’s very important that a PR-specialist is keeping the communication open between the groups involved by company’s product and/or policies. These are the consumers, shareholders and the employees of the business.

To be a PR manager takes a lot of studying, time and hard work to see through the audients and get the publics’ attention. A Public Relations specialist must keep up with popular and common developments to understand which stories will do. The work of a PR-specialist is continuously changing and every day is full of unforeseen difficulties and challenges to solve.

So almost every organization has a PR manager, but how can PR be useful to O’Neill?
PR is an useful tool to influence opinions and direct contact with the target group.
Because O’Neill has chosen a whole new target group for their new clothing line, they have to do a lot of advertising. PR can help the company to create goodwill and improve their image.
No company can be successful, without Public Relations!

 

Peer review of article 2 by Simone van Riet Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 11:59 am

Appendix 3B – Weblog article peer review form
Weblog Article Peer Review Form B – Second Review

Writer’s Name Simone van Riet
Assessor’s name Kimberly vegting
Date 24-10-2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get
a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.

1. Is the topic interesting? 1
2. Is the title original and appropriate? 2
3. Is the introduction complete? 1
4. Is the body of your article complete? 1
5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 1
6. Is the article well-organized overall? 1
7. Is the article easy to understand? 2
8. Is the article interesting to read? 1
9. Has any plagiarised material been removed? 3

Do you feel that the writer has improved the article? Why or why not? Be specific.
I think the article is improved because its explains better know what PR is about. The article has a good body and there’s a good conclusion in the end.

Has the writer changed the article adequately according to your suggestions for
improvement of your first assessment? Describe the changes and state specifically
whether you think they are an improvement.
The writer gives a explains what the job of a PR manager is.
The transitions between paragraphs are improved.
There’s a good conclusion to the story and why it could be used for the O’Neill campaign.

Are you happy to have this article on your web log? Why or why not? Be specific.
I will be happy to have this article on my web log because I think it’s a very interesting subject to read and other people from the advertising world may also like to read about PR.

 

Article version 2 of Rik Groenland Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 10:24 am

In-game Advertising

An article wrote by Rik Groenland

Imagine playing a game of football on your laptop. But instead of playing with the classic white ball with the black hexagons on it you are playing with an Adidas or a Nike football. That is in-game advertising in a nutshell. Ten years ago no one ever heart of advertising in a game and nowadays companies spent around $78 million on it. And a Yankee Group study estimated that worldwide spending on in-game advertising will exceed $971 million in 2011.

This data tells us that in-game advertising is a booming market. It all took a flight with the start of Linden Lab’s ‘Second Life’. Second Life is an online digital community where each player can create his or her own dynamic content. This creation of own dynamic content gives companies the opportunity to create their own shops and advertising in this digital world. Toyota, Sony, Nissan, ABN Amro, Adidas, Reebok and even Duran Duran are a small selection of companies with dynamic content in Second Life. And that is where there’s an opportunity for O’Neill. With a still growing community of nearly 10 million players world wide, Second Life is an ever growing virtual market waiting to be reached.

Google and Microsoft also woke up and smelled the coffee. Both of these big players have jumped into the in-game advertising train. February this year Google bought the in-game advertising company Adscape Media costing them about $24 million. With this knowledge within the organization, Google is outlining a plan for a new system called ‘AdSense for Games’. AdSense already is the successful formula for advertising on Google. ‘Adsense for Games’ will be an advertising system for webbased games.

Microsoft bought the company Massive for about $200 million last year. Massive also specializes in placing dynamic advertisements within video games. But Massive initially focusses on Microsoft’s Xbox Live system and MSN Games site. Where Sony’s Playstation 3 is talking with Microsoft’s opponent Google. So there is a war to be won between two teams. At one hand we have Sony and Google and at the other hand we have Microsoft and Massive battling for millions of dollars revenue.

From the last two examples we see that in-game advertising is becoming a big business. But the biggest question is whether in-game advertising works. Because the translation from in-game advertising into sales has yet to be measured successfully. This means that developing better measurements of success is a crucial next step for the industry.

Sources:
The Hollywood Reporter – In-game advertising It’s all in the game
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003123903

Marketallica – In game advertising getting serious
http://marketallica.wordpress.com/2006/10/12/in-game-advertising-getting-serious-part-one/

The future of media – Google to buy In-game Ad Company
http://blog.ipglab.com/?p=84

Seattle PI – Google takes its ad system into the video-game market
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/324213_googleads19.html

 

Peer review of article 2 by Rik Groenland Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 10:23 am

Appendix 3A – Weblog article peer review form
Weblog Article Peer Review Form A – First Review
Writer’s Name: Rik Groenland
Assessor’s name: Fleur van Ijperen
Date: 20-09-2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get
a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.
1. Is the topic interesting? 1____
2. Is the title original and appropriate? 1____
3. Is the introduction complete? 1____
4. Is the body of the article complete? 1____
5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 1____
6. Is the article well-organized overall? 1____
7. Is the article easy to understand? 1____
8. Is the article interesting to read? 1____
9. Has the writer plagiarised material? 3____

Finally, read the article a third time and check it for spelling, grammar and
punctuation. Mark any corrections on the article itself then complete the rest of
the form.

Name three things you like about the article.
It’s easy to read.
I’ve leaned things about in game advertising I didn’t know before.

Name three things the writer should improve.
Spelling.

What is the gist of the article?
In game advertising is an upcoming marketing tool.

Do you think this article is good enough to pass the course? Explain your answer.
If Rik corrects the spelling mistakes, its good enough!!

 

Article version 2 of Danny Taams Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 10:17 am

Billboards or Killboards?

An article wrote by Danny Taams

There are a lot of different ways to promote your product. One of them, discussed in this article, is a billboard. Billboards are very large posters which are located outside. For example: behind the highways, around schools, around stations an around supermarkets. A lot of companies are using billboards for advertisements, because it really is an eye-catcher.

Anywhere, anytime
Billboard advertising is relatively cheap, because you can reach thousands of people with it. In the contrary to a newspaper, that is working for one day, a billboard is working 24 hours a day. It doesn’t matter what time it is, where people come from, where the billboard is located. It can be seen any time and any place. You would think, that it is a good way to promote your products. But is a billboard effective as well?

Effectively?
A billboard certainly is large and an eye-catcher, but do all the thousands of people respond to the advertisement? The answer is no, according to the writer of “costs of Billboard Advertising”. According to the writer, a billboard is not that effective as a print ad. The ads on the billboards need to be really short and catchy. The billboards are mostly located next to the highways. The problem is that all the people driving on the highways are not always able to respond to the billboards, because they are driving. There are moments, for instance when there is a traffic jam, when costumers are able to respond. Only the traffic jams are uncommon and it might be dangerous an distractive for the drivers when they are trying to understand the advertisement. So we can wonder ourselves if it’s worth placing a billboard next to a highway?

Consequence for children
Billboards are not only dangerous when they are located next to the highways, but also when they are located next to a school. There are thousands of billboards around the schools. The children around schools might think the billboards are very interesting and there is plenty of time to study them. Unfortunately the theme of the advertisement, located next to the school, is not always that bright. There are schools where hundreds of alcohol billboards are located. Obviously the children are interested in the alcohol and the billboards might influence those kids to drink. That would be something serious we should be ashamed of! Of course there are children who will not respond to this advertisement. Not all the kids will be influenced to begin drinking alcohol. But we should see this as a problem! It not only the influence that matters, but what about their perception of what is normal?

There certainly are billboards that really would be effective. The companies only should be more right-thinking. They have to locate the advertisements in the right area, around the right target group. It will be better for the society and for the business as well…

 

Peer review of article 2 by Danny Taams Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 10:15 am

Weblog Article Peer Review Form B – Second Review
Writer’s Name Danny Taams
Assessor’s name Rik Groenland
Date 24th of October

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No
Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get
a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.
1. Is the topic interesting? 1
2. Is the title original and appropriate? 1
3. Is the introduction complete? 1
4. Is the body of your article complete? 1
5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 1
6. Is the article well-organized overall? 1
7. Is the article easy to understand? 1
8. Is the article interesting to read? 1
9. Has any plagiarised material been removed? 3

Do you feel that the writer has improved the article? Why or why not? Be specific.

- I think she has improved the structure of her article as well as the examples she gives.

Has the writer changed the article adequately according to your suggestions for
improvement of your first assessment? Describe the changes and state specifically
whether you think they are an improvement.

- She improved her writing style. She corrected the spelling errors.

Are you happy to have this article on your weblog? Why or why not? Be specific.

- Yes, I think this is a good addition to our weblog. We see billboards every day and now we know what goes behind all this billboard business.

 

Article version 2 of Fleur van Ijperen Wednesday, Oct 24 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 10:14 am

Hidden commercials: How far can we go?

Hidden commercials. Most people don’t even know that they exist. The thing that scares me the most, in fact it made me write this article, is that you can have an influence on people without them even knowing that they are being persuaded to buy something!

There are a lot of different hidden commercials. The one thing I think is funny, is that I found an article on the internet about cigarette commercials. In Holland you can not have commercials about cigarettes on TV anymore. What the tobacco companies in America did, following to this article, is that they put billboards in places that where going to be broadcasted on the TV. Like football matches. So they have got very cheap ‘’hidden commercials’’. There was a report brought out which contains the numbers about this hidden commercials. If the companies would really have paid for the airing time, they would have paid a million dollars! Well, call me crazy but that’s amazing! I have respect for people who come up with such idea’s!
This story about the cigarette companies doesn’t end all that well. They have got at lot of complaints, also from antismoking organizations. But still, I think it’s a clever trick.

As we all know soap series are a great way to ‘secretly’ promote a new drink or other products. According to an article that has been published The Christian Science Monitor in November 17, 2005 ‘’Has hidden advertising gone too far?’’, the interest from companies who want to promote their products has grown over the last couple of years. TV shows and movies generate a lot of money from these hidden commercials in their shows. So why shouldn’t they put subliminal advertising in movies and TV shows? The TV companies make extra money and the only thing they have to do is let their actors drink, for instance a Pepsi drink. I think it’s a great way to introduce the public to a new product. They admire the actor, and try what he’s drinking. I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Do you?

As we move into the future I like to call ‘’The digital age’’ advertising companies have to deal with the fact that you can just move to another channel when the commercials come up. I do it too, I hate commercials. KFC (Kentucky Friend Chicken) launched a new advertising campaign. When people watch the commercial from KFC and then play the spot back slowly they can find a secret message from KFC. That’s what I like about the advertising blokes these days. They go with time, be creative. They let the crowd have some fun, and its good for their image, they are inventive. And let’s face it, you will remember KFC.

Now, we have heard a lot about hidden commercials, but what do you think? Has the world of advertising has gone too far?

Let us know at: http://rmc203c1.wordpress.com/
We value your opinion!

Sources:

Hidden Cigarette Commercials Targeted in Justice Dept. Complaint
Consulted at 31st of August from: http://www.ash.org/pr/stadium.htm, Added on Wednesday, May 31, 1995, by John Banzhaf.

Has hidden advertising gone too far?
Consulted at 31st of August from: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1117/p03s01-ussc.html , Added on November 17, 2005, in The Christian Science Monitor, by Daniel B. Wood

KFC plants hidden secret in new TV commercial
Consulted at 31st of August from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11527548/, Added in 2006 by The Associated Press

Number of words used in the article above: 501 (including the title)

 

Peer review of article 2 by Fleur van Ijperen Thursday, Oct 18 2007 

Articles version 2 + peer review rmc203c1 2:42 pm

Appendix 3A – Weblog article peer review form
Weblog Article Peer Review Form A – First Review
Writer’s Name: Fleur van Ijperen
Assessor’s name: Rik Groenland
Date: 24-09-2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get
a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.
1. Is the topic interesting? 1____
2. Is the title original and appropriate? 1____
3. Is the introduction complete? 1____
4. Is the body of the article complete? 1____
5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 2____
6. Is the article well-organized overall? 1____
7. Is the article easy to understand? 1____
8. Is the article interesting to read? 1____
9. Has the writer plagiarised material? 3____

Finally, read the article a third time and check it for spelling, grammar and
punctuation. Mark any corrections on the article itself then complete the rest of
the form.

Name three things you like about the article.
Its really interesting.
I’ve learned things I didn’t know before.

Name three things the writer should improve.
Mabye a better conclusion. There isn’t a real one.

What is the gist of the article?
Using hidden commercials is very clever.

Do you think this article is good enough to pass the course? Explain your answer.
Yes. I think it’s good enough. I didn’t see any spelling or grammar mistakes. And I like the story.