Write Stripes

Definently the less the better. We are bombarded by so much information these days, that when there is an ad with very little writing, pictures, or noise, it catches my attention because it is unusual. Someone earlier on the blog was mentioning the car ad with no noise and how it was effective because everyone looked at the tv when it became silent to see what would happen next. Similarly, there was a Volzwagon ad I saw in a magazine where the whole page was just plain black except for the VW symbol which was in white in the very middle. This caught my attention for the same reason-because it was unusually straight forward and simple. I think this strategy would work especially well for college students, because we like to do as little thinking as possible when we don't have to! :) Something simple would be easy to comprehend and still be very effective because of that simpleness which would make it unusual and attention catching.

Sorry for the delay. Here's the first blog prompt for next week: Over the weekend, keep track of ads that catch your eye--in print, on the radio, on tv, billboards, everywhere. Then write about the commonalities among them. What "themes" get your attention? What kinds of images? What words? How can we work those things that work on you into our project?

With the superbowl ads in mind, I believe that comic relief and personal reflection are key characteristics in winning the audience's attention in campaigns. Heading the memorable Budweiser campaigns, the advertising group stresses on physical humor and current issues. When designing and discussing the issues for the 2004 election, we need to, as a group, personally inspire college students on such important issues with simplified, appealing approaches either comical or designed.

After reading everyone's posts I think that I may actually be the only one in the class that didn't watch the superbowl, not even a minute of it. Considering the fact that I didn't see any of the commercials, I can't really comment on what worked and what didn't, at least not specifically in reference to that. I agree with what everyone is saying about needing something flashy and attention grabbing. Out of personal experience, I know that I am more likely to look at a bright colored flyer than a plain white one, so bright colors are something that I think we should take advantage of. I also like the suggestion about including some humor in it. I know that humor gets my attention. I am not really a creative person when it comes to things like this, which is why I'm not a marketing major, so I'm afraid that I can't make much of a contribution in terms of ideas for advertising our site, except to say that I think all of the suggestions made by the others sound good.

I think that the best ads during the superbowl were obviously the ones that caught our attention. The advertisers did this is a couple of ways. Usually the ads that are funny or full of the hottest celebrities are the ones that seem the most effective. We should try to apply this to our "political ads." One of the commercials during the superbowl actually was to promote voting. This commercial had many many celebrities that made comments about the importance of voting and the importance of making a difference. I think that this was an effective way to attract the attention of many of the younger viewers of the superbowl. The main problem is actually getting the attention of the younger audience. One way to do this is by having flashy advertising, or by incorporating the hottest celebrities. Then, once you have the attention of your audience, you can send them your message.

I think that as far as the Super Bowl commercials, the one that I remember most was the Lay's commercial with the old people who tripped each other in order to get to the bag of chips first. While this may not be appropriate for a website on homosexual marriage, I think the idea of humor and uniqueness should be key ideas to focus on. Don't get me wrong, not humor in the sense of making fun of the topic. Just something different that will set our website apart, and maybe even put a smile on the viewers face. Of course, this would mean that both ends of the spectrum (Liberal and Conservative) should be considered.

I agree with everyone so far that is talking about flashy and surprising. An idea that our group had for advertising was to use really bright paper (flashy) and to use surprising and over-the-top phrases to catch people's attention. The idea is to use the color to get them to look and the words to get them to wonder what in the world we are talking about and to visit our site. An example was to maybe call Bush a murderer of Iraqis and of our young men. This is clearly a controversial statement that will provoke a lot of emotion and discussion from even those not interested in politics. Once at our site we need to continue using flashiness, just as everyone else has said so far.

I don't know how the other groups have split things up, but I am in charge of the "technology" part of ours (ie taking all the info and making it into a pretty webpage). So i'm starting to think about the layout, and since all our pages are going to have to come together, they really should have the same kind of theme or look to them, don't y'all think? So to all the other webpage designer-people in the other groups: do you think it would help for us to get together and plan a unifying theme? Just a thought :)

The main idea behind the super bowl ads was humor. The funnier the commercial, the better the audience will remember it. Some of the commercials tried to use things that were familiar to their audience and then add humor to that. Others used off the wall subjects, such as the donkey in the Budweiser one, that caught people's attention because they aren't everyday sights. I think it's going to be hard to add humor to this website because it is about politics (unless one of the candidates does something embarrassing). But one idea that I had was to incorporate a movie into our main website, maybe a skit of the class doing something funny. This would catch the readers' attention and help them to relate to us.

Brannon did a smart thing by capturing today's discussion. I decided it might be a good thing also to have it here as a reference.



TEDDIFISH: Are you there?

BranTrax: yes
BranTrax: wait, where?
TEDDIFISH: Great! In the MATRF?

BranTrax: I'm sitting in the lab, waiting for class
BranTrax: yep
TEDDIFISH: Very good. Are you at the "teacher's computer?

BranTrax: no
BranTrax: I can go to it
TEDDIFISH: OK, please do.
TEDDIFISH: Did everyone get my message?

BranTrax: ok, let me sign off here and into there
BranTrax: no, no message
BranTrax: back in 2 min
BranTrax: ok, I'm on the main computer
TEDDIFISH: Great. If you would, turn on the overhead and dim the lights so everyone can see the IM screen.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: we're all here
TEDDIFISH: Apparently my messages are still not getting out reliably. I'm sorry for that. I tried sending everyone a note that said that I'd be with you virtually today--via IM
BranTrax: we didn't get that
TEDDIFISH: That's fine. Luckily I saw you online so all is well.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: I'm going to give you guys instructions about the proposal, then let you work, just as if I were there. During the instruction phase, if you could channel any questions from the class, I can answer them
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: Then after I'm done "lecturing," whenever someone has a question, they can just come up to this computer and ask.
BranTrax: ok, sounds good
TEDDIFISH: It's just like I'm there, except you guys can laugh at my misspelling.
BranTrax: haha, ok
TEDDIFISH: The first thing I want you to think about with respect to the proposal is how it fits into the three "time" categories of technical writing.
TEDDIFISH: Reports are the T/W genre that addresses the past.

Directions or reference materials (like your project) are used in the present.

Proposals are the genre that addresses the future.

BranTrax: ok, we follow so far
TEDDIFISH: It goes (almost) without saying that they talk about what you hope to do and agree to do, but are not concrete like the other two types of writing-they can't be because there is an element of speculation. (Make sense so far?)
BranTrax: yes
TEDDIFISH: OK, so remember when we mentioned audience, context and purpose before? Well, purpose is going to be your driving force because it dictates what you are planning to do. (The other two things, audience and context are also important, but you want to focus, for this future-oriented piece of writing, on your goal(s).
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH:
If you haven't done it yet, you need to write out what your actual goal is (for your group project). It should be something like "we want to provide Clemson students with all of the relevant information about wastewater treatment plants, the candidate's positions on them, and their significance to the future of Clemson."

BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: As soon as one of the groups has one, type it to me.
BranTrax: Our group wants to provide Clemson students and other potential voters with all the relevant information about stem cell research and therapy, the candidate's positions on them, and their significance to the future of Clemson students.
TEDDIFISH: :-)


BranTrax: 8-)
TEDDIFISH: OK, good enough (and familiar.) Now is when you bring audience and context into it.

TEDDIFISH: Your plan needs to address *how* you can do this.

BranTrax: how you can achieve the goal or how to bring the audience and context in?
TEDDIFISH: It sounds easy, but remember that you have to actually get the students to the site
TEDDIFISH: good question. Mostly how you can achieve your goal.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: So what you have to do is, with your goal in mind, set up the steps you will need to go through
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: you can start to plan your actual actions-the ones that will get you to the goal that you outlined. Your plan will include research and presentation of your findings (in the form of the web site) and then some sort of publicity by which you get the word out about the site.
BranTrax: does each group need publicity or the class website as a whole?
TEDDIFISH: While you're doing this, you will start to concretize the things you will actually need--in other words, in order to let CU students understand the significance to them, you need to research the ways that SCR might potentially affect them.
TEDDIFISH: Each group will be doing some of its own publicity--perhaps flyers, a public radio spot or an ad for the tiger.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: It's a way that each of you can draw attention to your own issue (which is more effective than trying to get people interested in voter education in general.)
BranTrax: will we have to pay for the publicity?
TEDDIFISH: Is everyone following?
BranTrax: yes
TEDDIFISH: Not really (other than paper for the flyers.)
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: cause Tiger ads cost money
TEDDIFISH: :-)

BranTrax: people want to know if this proposal is still due Thursday?
TEDDIFISH: Here's what you need to include in your proposal: You need an overview of what your site will look like (that will, necessarily also be a content outline)
TEDDIFISH: (I'll come back to that one, ok?)

BranTrax: in outline format or prose format?
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: In proposal format--one of the models in your handbook.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: you'll also need a timeline
TEDDIFISH: and you'll need a list of responsibilities.
TEDDIFISH: This list will be what you use to make up your contracts which are also part of this assignment
BranTrax: do we pick which type of proposal to use?
TEDDIFISH: It is important to remember that even if you work collaboratively on all aspects of the project, there needs to be a point person who is responsible for each componant.
TEDDIFISH: Just like before, you get to identify the one you think is best.
TEDDIFISH: (The choosing is part of the work of writing :-))
BranTrax: question: are the timeline and contract part of the 4 pages or more?
TEDDIFISH: The timeline is; the contract is separate
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: there's not a contract format in the handbook
TEDDIFISH: OK, as for due dates, I wanted to see how far you get today, and then if Thursday still seems reasonable (I think it will be--you guys have all day in class today and then tomorrow) I would like to have them then. If there are big problems or if I can sense your aprehension through my computer lines, we can move it back.
BranTrax:
BranTrax: the class is voicing major apprehension
TEDDIFISH: :-)
TEDDIFISH: Ok, let's see how everyone feels closer to the end. I'm not unreasonable . . .
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: You will have to come up with the contract yourself. It can be very brief and to the point. It is a functional document for you and I.
TEDDIFISH: Are there any pre-law folks in the class?
BranTrax: the concensus is that we're going to have it done by Thursday, but that you have to remember that we're kind of clueless
BranTrax: keep that in find
TEDDIFISH: They might be the ones to look for as a model, but no mucking it up with a bunch of "legalese"

BranTrax: mind, not find
TEDDIFISH: OK. I have faith in you.
BranTrax: so Thursday will sort of be a rough draft but we'll have it then
TEDDIFISH: I wouldn't have tried this "virtual class" with any old class. You are smart. :-)
TEDDIFISH: Are people ready to get started?
BranTrax: yes
BranTrax: another question: what about people who were supposed to do their ethics presentations today?
TEDDIFISH: OK. I'll be here for questions (just like in regular class, except you can make jokes about me in my absence.)
TEDDIFISH: I'd like to put the presentations off until Thursday. I'm hoping to be walking by then.
TEDDIFISH: My apologies to the presenters.

BranTrax: so, will Tuesday and Thursday's groups go then or will they all be pushed abck a class period?
TEDDIFISH: Both groups will go.
BranTrax: question: do we need a cover letter for the proposal
TEDDIFISH: No. (Good question, though.)
BranTrax: ok, we'll get started
TEDDIFISH: OK :-)
TEDDIFISH: Capturing the IM was an excellent idea!
BranTrax: do we need a bibliography, because this is a plan so we're not actually doing the research, we're talking about how we're going to do the research
TEDDIFISH: No, you don't *need* one at this stage, but if you know some sources you plan to use, it would be good to include them.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: what about the 10-page memo thing on the syllabus for next Tuesday?
TEDDIFISH: That is going to have to be pushed back (since we haven't talked about it yet at all.) Don't worry about it now.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: do we need to include that and the "progress report" in the timeline, though?
BranTrax: can you give us the link for last semester's website?
TEDDIFISH: You should work in two progress reports as well as some other things that I don't think we've talked about yet like time to mesh things together.
BranTrax: we don't understand
TEDDIFISH: Last semester, because the site was incomplete, it didn't go "live." What I can do, however, is to put those files in MyCLE so you guys can look at them
BranTrax: ok, sounds good
TEDDIFISH: Your timeline should include two progress reports that are roughly in the places indicated on the syllabus.
BranTrax: just to have an idea of theme, since they will go together in the end
TEDDIFISH: Yes, that's a good idea.
BranTrax: there is just 1 progress report on the syllabus, on 3/11
TEDDIFISH: You also (as the final project team) will have some discretion to alter their work a little (to help make it fit.)
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: OK, then one it is. (I had thought I put in two, but I don't have it in front of me :-))
TEDDIFISH: How is everyone doing?
BranTrax: well, we're making progress
TEDDIFISH: Good. And the anxiety level?
BranTrax: medium
TEDDIFISH: so that would be about orange on the national security scale?
BranTrax: yes, orange is the consensus, with a couple of red votes
TEDDIFISH: :-)
BranTrax: ok, groups are wrapping up
TEDDIFISH: Good. I think that your suggestion that we consider thursday's work a draft will work well. (It takes a little of the pressure off.) So can we take the warning level down to yellow?
TEDDIFISH: Any last questions for me?
BranTrax: yes
BranTrax: no questions
BranTrax: absolutely on the draft
BranTrax: everyone says "bye"
BranTrax: feel better
TEDDIFISH: Very good. Bye. Thank you!
BranTrax: out of curiosity, how did you know my IM?
TEDDIFISH: I thought you had done it--it appeared on my buddy list.
BranTrax: ummm, don't think so
BranTrax: interesting
BranTrax: but lucky
TEDDIFISH: I'm really glad it did. (I thought it was in response to my e-mail which apparently didn't even go out.)
TEDDIFISH: Very strange, though, if you didn't do it.
BranTrax: I have no clue but it worked out well
TEDDIFISH: Yes. Thank you.
BranTrax: no prpoblem, see you thursday (hopefully)
TEDDIFISH: Yes. I am hopeful! :-)

# posted by T. F. @ 9:05 AM

I think that the best ads during the superbowl were obviously the ones that caught our attention. The advertisers did this is a couple of ways. Usually the ads that are funny or full of the hottest celebrities are the ones that seem the most effective. We should try to apply this to our "political ads." One of the commercials during the superbowl actually was to promote voting. This commercial had many many celebrities that made comments about the importance of voting and the importance of making a difference. I think that this was an effective way to attract the attention of many of the younger viewers of the superbowl. The main problem is getting the attention of the younger audience. One way to do this is by having flashy advertising, or by incorporating the hottest celebrities. Then, once you have the attention of your audience, you can send them your message.

Obviously, celebrities sell. Many of the most famous advertisements have celebrities in them. Another theme is humor, with a central theme in all ads. For example, Aflac uses the duck and so those are memorable. I always keep an eye out for new Aflac ads because 1) they are funny and 2) I like the duck. However, the best way we could promote our website to students is through celebrities- not Hollywood, but local celebrities. For example, get endorsements from some famous athletes. Put an ad in The Tiger with a picture of Charlie Whitehurst or someone checking out the website. If anyone knows celebrities outside of campus, that would be great too! Just to have a picture of someone checking it out and say "So-and-so pays attention to politics and is an informed voter. Are you?" The only catch to this is someone has to know famous people, either local or otherwise... Speaking of voting, everyone remember to vote today in the primary!

It is hard to try to find a way to incorporate the best advertising tactics into political information. Year in and year out the best commercials are always either very funny or simply outlandish, or both. Obviously satisfying these criteria makes for a sure way of grabbing and holding a college student's attention, but how to do it given the topic makes it a little bit more complex. Maybe finding some odd facts about candidates would be a "hook" to grab people's attention. Being controversial is certainly a proven way to get people involved. Using those issues (ie the war in Iraq or same-sex marriage) is sure to hold attention. All in all, it comes down to how your present the ideas and information.

I agree that we should use flashy ads. College students are not going to take the time to stop and read an ad unless it looks interesting or catches their eye. I also agree with Sarah's idea that the best advertisements are the funny ones. The advertisements you are most likely to remember are the ones that make you laugh. If we could include humor into our advertisement I am sure we will be able to get the attention of some of the students who are apathetic towards politics. Another reason is humor is important is because most students actually get their knowledge of politics from late night comedy shows. If we can ad humor into our advertisement but actually have correct information, I believe this could make an impact.

I agree that eye-catching signs to advertise the website where information can be obtained would be a great start. I realize there is a limited budget (if any) for this project as well, but often times things such as free concerts will attract an audience and promote something such as our website where they can then obtain information. I think a free concert would be relatively easy to organize and in a college town, maybe not expensive as there are plenty of bands in need of publicity. This would definitely target our audience of college students and give us an opportunity to advertise with all their focus on us.

I think everyone so far has posted great ideas. If we were to advertise our project across campus, eye-catching designs and colors are definitely key. Also, I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but I was talking about voter registration with my friends, and it seems as though a good number of students are interested in voting, they just don't know how to go about registering. I was thinking we could put contacts or voter registration processes on our website. Advertising a comprehensive overview of the entire 2004 election in a aesthetically pleasing way will be the greatest challenge.

I agree that tactics that surprise and catch an audience off guard are not only successfull but memorable. This general trend could be extended to college students by show casing some unknown and surprising fact about whatever the political issue is at hand-a kind of "hook" to grab their attention, and keep them interested in an ensuing discusion/debate about the topic. Nothing gets my attention or sticks in my memory more than some astounding, unexpected piece of info that I learn. For instance, I went to the Anne Frank play tonight at the Brooks Center and learned that the Hitler Youth were each given a puppy on their 12th birthday, and then after they had raised the puppy, they were required to strangle it with their own hands in order to "graduate" and become an SS officer in the Nazi concentration camps. Now, a year from now, I probably won't remember anything about the play, but I will still be talking about that outrageous fact that I learned. We could start our disscussions about political issues with a similar sort of "hook" that would get and maintain our audience's interest.

Flashy. Because just the information on its own won't attract attention, we need to present it in a way that catches the college-student's eye, and then maybe they will stick around to read the material (especially if it's applicable, etc like we've been discussing). And even flashy has its fine line. It can't be too flashy that it will detract from what we're saying, or to make it absolutely hideous, but *just enough*... Also, going along with the whole super bowl commercial thing, most of the "best" ones are funny. So if we could find a way to incorporate humor in with facts, that might help to hold readers' attention

Sorry about posting so late on this one, but for some reason blogger wasn't working for me earlier. I think the important issue with grabbing students attention is partly in selection of topics, but to a degree that has already been decided for us -- by candidates, media groups, and special intrests -- and if we fail to address those major issues then the website will fail for providing easy summaries to the questions most students will be wondering. Therefore I think we should practice a degree of audience pandering -- we should select from our subjects the most alarming facts to college students and use those as attention grabbers. I'm not suggesting that we sensationalize at all, but rather format our data such that most alluring facts are presented first and foremost. Unfortunately I don't think we really need alot of help finding alarming facts in alot of the fields.

The topic choice definetly has to be relevant to the college age group. Issues concerning sexual health, education, war, and the economy are good choices to reach the college age group. The best way to get people's attention is to surprise them with something that is unexpected. The one commercial that I remember the most about the super bowl was the cadillac commercial that was silent. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to the tv. Commercials like that surprise the audience and demand attention. Other types of advertising that may be effective politically are the tobacco ads. These ads are effective because they place a tangible number on a vague fact. A similar campaign could be run in order to get college students of the nation to vote. Issues like social security, poverty, and others that demand attention through statistics or images that stir emotions. These kinds of strategy need to be placed into the political scene in order to get voters involved.

I think you are correct about needing to choose topics correctly and carefully, but for the next one, how about discussing some approaches you can use. Think super bowl ad campaigns. Sponsors paid millions of dollars for small bits of airtime. What worked? What didn't? (Remember, this is a school project so no suggesting anything like what happened with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Eeks.)

As we have all said, choosing the most relevant topics to college age students will be the most effective way to make our peers care. In addition to this careful topic selection, if we show how the various consequences associated with different political agendas will be students will be more likely to have an opinion they are willing to defend. Once students see the immediate impact political issues may have on their lives, they will have no choice but to accept the fall out associated with the 'blast' or take action, and i truly believe our generation will rise to the challenge.

I think that in order to really motivate our audience to care, we must take each issue we are going to cover and present it in a way that it can relate to the average college student's life. It will be important that any college student who looks at our webpage feels like the topic being addressed is something that effects them. I think a good bit of the voter apathy for our age group comes from a feeling that things like medical care just don't really effect someone our age. If we can give a person who is viewing our webpage the feeling that the topic being addressed has a direct impact on their own life, then I think the person is more likely to care about each candidate's view. This person would also, then, be more likely to want to take the time and vote for the candidate who shares in his or her own beliefs.

Obviously it is a challenge to "motivate" college students, especially when it comes to politics. I think that many students don't feel the direct effects of politics (at least they think that they don't) and this makes them lose interest. In order to get their attention, I think we must find some way to relate the issues back to the students. Perhaps we could translate the "issues" into everyday activities. Instead of talking about the "big picture" ideas that seem irrelevant to a 20 year old college student in Clemson, SOuth Carolina, we could try to apply the issues directly to these students. This way, they will realize how important political issues are to their own lives and the lives of their families. By seeing how their lives could be different if different candidates were to win, college students would be more willing to participate in political events.

One of the most common (not to mention quickest and most efficient) forms of communication between college students is simply verbal communication. I think one of the best ways to quickly and easily educate our peers about political matters is to simply bring up relevant (and particularly interesting or controverisal) topics or current political events in our everyday conversations. It is really easy (and sometimes fun) to bring up some political controversy that really bugs you to other students-us college kids love to complain about things...so why not complain about a political issue instead of just how long we had to wait in line at the Hendrix Center for food. When political activisim among college students was at its heigth in the sixties, students sat around and talked about the president and Congress and war while they were eating, drinking, smoking, or participating in some other informal social event. Why couldn't we do the same?

I agree with what others have been saying about the students needing to realize that their opinion does matter and that there are issues that pertain to them. The really tricky part, however, is getting them to pay attention long enough to realize this. For some of us, it is ingrained in our heads all our lives from our parents. It didn't take my brother and me long, though, to figure out that we were rare in that regard. Not many other elementary schoolers knew what the electoral college was. For that matter, I'm not sure all college students know exactly what it is and how it works! It would be nice to implement a general education requirement of Intro to American Govt. Since there is an AP course for that, it seems reasonable to require everyone except those who pass the AP exam to take the course. I don't see that happening, at least not as a result of our project! So we need to focus on ways to attract them to our website. One major way is publicity. At first, we need them to at least visit it once to see what it's all about. Then, we can work on making it user-friendly and interesting to keep them there. The best way to get exposure for the site and get people to check it out is to spread the word about it. Maybe The Tiger would do an article about it in the fall, when it's closer to being complete and closer to the election? It seems like this would be a topic they should be interested in writing about. It's educational, University-related, and engaging for students. Another method of distributing the website is via links from other sites, mainly professor's webpages. If we could get the political science department to put a brief plug on their website and syllabi, it would be good. POSC 101 (Amer Gov't) professors could just put the website on their syllabus and tell students to check it out. Also, spread word to other agencies in the area. Let the county and state political parties' offices know about it- they might mention it in the newsletters, which go to people of all ages. Let the Young Democrats and Young Republicans know about it. Tell other area schools- Furman, Anderson College, North Greenville, TriCounty Tech, Southern Wesleyan, Greenville Tech. I know my mom, a political science professor and associate dean at Greenville Tech, has already expressed interest in linking from her class webpage to the voters guide when we finish it. She looks for links such as this that might interest her students, as well as teaching them. I bet there are plenty of other professors like that out there, especially with the increasing use of the internet. Publicity is the first step, then retaining interest once we draw them to the site.

To meet the challenges college students pose, when discussing political matters, I think not only are the topics of grave importance by the reinforcement that THEIR voice does matter and that there still is an opportunity to change the progression of America. I often hear my peers say that there is no longer a clear distinction between party lines, that Democrats and Republicans converge their views and are as undecided in their beliefs as the average American. When depicting each "side" of our topic we need to stress the differences each candidate brings to the platform. Not only are the differences important, but also the issues themselves. Presenting the topics in a simple but pleasing visual manner on the website will increase viewing and impact. Logical prompts to other websites for more information will allow the student to feel safe and secure about the information being provided and afford them the ability to produce a strong stance on each respective issue.