Vampires and IMC

Hello IMC friends!

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with our favorite IMC technology savant Rick Bebout about the IMC blog, complaining to him that I didn’t think I would have much to write about during my summer hiatus from classes. I’ll be honest, my mind is still reeling from last night’s season premiere of my favorite TV show, True Blood, and IMC couldn’t be further from my mind …

Or could it?  

In the weeks leading up to last night’s True Blood premiere, I’d been thinking a lot about the success of this weird show about vampires, particularly about the marketing tactics HBO employed to help craft the show into the phenomenon it is today.  

An AdAge article I found describes True Blood’s marketing campaign “as edgy as its content,” and goes on to describe some of the specific tactics HBO used this season. As expected, the majority of True Blood’s marketing is done online. I was aware of most of these tactics, having seen them firsthand. As a True Blood fan and “Eric Northman” fan on Facebook (Eric is one of the vampires on the show), I receive frequent show updates including links to the “minisodes” leading up to the Season 3 premiere, behind-the-scenes interviews, as well as the Season 3 “collectible posters” that fans can download.

One thing that I hadn’t seen yet and just read about today was HBO’s “apology video,” where a junior marketing associate apologizes for some of the show’s “failed marketing attempts.”

I guess what I’ve come to realize from this little exercise is that I can relate IMC concepts to a lot of things—even when I’m not consciously trying to. At the end of our conversation, I told Rick that I would somehow find a way to tie in my love of all things vampire to IMC and he laughed at me. Booyah! 😉

So what about your favorite TV shows? What are some of the marketing tactics that your shows have used? I have to admit, even though I’m a huge True Blood fan, I haven’t tried the True Blood beverage yet. But, there’s always the season finale …

Cheers!

Is it Google or Bing? I can’t tell!

OK, I have to admit that when I logged on to my computer this morning I thought my husband played a practical joke on me. I have Google set up as my homepage, so when I opened my browser this morning imagine my surprise when I was greeted with an outdoor scene that looked very “Bingish.”  

Google screenshot from my computer this morning

Now, I’m a creature of habit. For example, anytime Facebook makes changes to its layout I freak out, and I’m usually grouchy for a few days until I figure everything out. Needless to say, I’m not really digging the new Google homepage yet. I miss the simplicity of the old version. And, if Google stops doing those fun things with its logo on the homepage (the recent PacMan game was awesome!) I will be really sad.

After I read the Google blog, I can sort of see where they are heading with this change, and I do appreciate the customization aspect of it. I’m betting that Google’s homepage customization has been in the works for a long time. However, I think I would be more accepting of it if Google had introduced it before Microsoft launched Bing. Timing is everything, and I hate to say it, but this new homepage looks very “copycat” to me – very uncharacteristic of Google and pretty disappointing. I will probably end up loving it eventually, after I recover from the initial shock. 🙂

I’m sure there are a few IMC discussions going on about this right now, so those of you who are taking classes this summer, please indulge me! I’d love to hear what everyone else is saying about it. Love it? Hate it? Don’t care? Let me know!

In other news, how many of you are super excited about the new iPhone software? Farmville on my iPhone!  Beginning around the end of the month or maybe the first of July, I will probably be going from 10% productivity to 0% productivity in real life. But my virtual farm will be at 100% productivity. And how about the new iPhone! I want, I want! 🙂

IMC Weekend Recap

Happy Monday in IMC Land (at least I hope so!). What a fun weekend! In addition to celebrating my 29th birthday again, I had the pleasure of attending IMC Weekend here in Morgantown. For those of you who were unable to attend this year, I strongly encourage you to try to make it in the future. It was truly a great experience. I had the chance to talk to several faculty members—one whom I’ve already had for class, and a few whose classes I’ll be taking in the future.  And speaking of, congratulations to Dr. Larry Stultz, this year’s Golden Quill Award winner (see you in Early Fall for IMC 615!). 🙂

The keynote speaker for Friday night’s event, Kevin Beatty, is a graduate of the IMC program, and in his speech he talked a lot about how the IMC degree has helped him in his career. I’ll have to admit, it’s one thing to read the program brochure and information online about how beneficial the program is, but actually hearing about an IMC graduate’s positive experiences as a result of going through the program takes everything to a new level. I found his speech very encouraging, as I imagine the other IMC graduates, and current and prospective students in the audience did as well. What about you other IMC graduates? How has the IMC program helped you? We’d love to hear your stories!

Have a wonderful week everyone! I will leave you with a photo from Saturday’s IMC Picnic at Dorsey’s Knob. The weather held off long enough for us to have a nice meal outside. 🙂

Me with IMC staffer Nicole Beason and fellow birthday girl, IMC professor/advisor Shelly Stump

4 days of sun = 1 crispy Stacy

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We hit the weather lottery this weekend –hot and sunny. Needless to say, I haven’t made a huge dent in the housecleaning yet, but I have an awesome tan 😉

How are your summer classes going? I’m not going to lie to you—I’m pretty happy with my decision to take summer off. I’m getting caught up on my trashy vampire romance novels and getting my summer TV schedule finalized. Just yesterday, I discovered Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo. I’m pretty sure that I won’t have any brain cells left by the time the Early Fall semester rolls around.

In addition to the Real Housewives discovery, I’ve also discovered one major drawback to the new iPad. You can’t read ebooks outside because of the glare. It’s a bummer, but somehow I think I’ll be able to go on …

Looking forward to meeting some of you this Friday during IMC Weekend!