From the exert from Chapter 3 of the book, it talked about the theory of how businesses report to itself. In most cases, the Chairman/CEO/President is the top official that the company reports to. The exert also talks about the functions of a communication department. The communication department is a lot more expansive than that I thought and included groups such as Media Relations, Online Communications, Marketing, Special Events, and Crisis Management.
One of the major topics discussed in the Chapter was determining an image of an organization. I can relate to this because I did an internship two summers ago was part of the Washington Wild Things minor league baseball team. During one of the first group meetings, the whole organization discussed what their image was. Not just as a minor league baseball team but as a organization for the community.
What sets the Washington Wild Things minor league baseball team apart from other organizations major and minor league is that they are an independent team. The Wild Things are part of an independent league, meaning that they or the other teams do not associate with any major league teams. They are strictly by themselves and are dependent financially on themselves.
But what sets them apart from the major league teams and even some minor league teams is that they are able to give a more intimate feeling to the fans who come to the games. They bridged the gap that major league teams cannot do. They fans are given greater opportunities to meet the players and socialize with them before after and during the games. In addition, the Wild Things park itself only seats about 4,000 giving any great seats to anyone who attends the games. Lastly there are also promotions to make the already affordable prices for everything more affordable.
Overall, the image of the Washington Wild Things minor league baseball team is simple. To provide a positive atmosphere to all fans coming to watch the games that's also affordable. In the community, the Washington Wild Things helps out with local organizations as well as has different events for fans to meet and get to know the players off the field. In conclusion, the image of this organization is one that is different yet fits the idea that the Washington Wild Things are going for. The organization is a great organization to not only work in but also be a fan of and enjoy the community presence it shows.
http://www.washingtonwildthings.com/
Matthew Beucker
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I would like to contribute to the chapter and especially on the reputation and marketing communication of a company I have done an internship for: Evian (part of the Dannon group). This water is said to be the best water in the market, and it has earned the reputation of water for the babies, as any mother should use the best water to do the baby bottle drinks.
ReplyDeleteFor Evian the challenge was huge. The first one was to reconcile, for the first time in one campaign, the image of expensive and trendy brand overseas and the historical territory of Evian in France, the youth," says Marielle Durandet, CEO of the advertising company. Here they found the large gap in Evian, located midway between a consumer brand and a premium product. Moreover, the challenge for any brand of mineral water - which faces competition from water source - is to continue to justify its price value added. This was already the role of baby swimming, in 1998 enhancing the positioning "health" of Evian, a profit "youth". Hence the birth of a slogan, "Evian, declared source of youth for your body", coupled with a signature sound (taste). The campaign also gives rise to writing advertising, alternating sequences of emotional and rational arguments. The recipe is still valid, except that Evian was forced to rejuvenate its own signs of youth! The signature is "Live Young" rallying cry that is the subject of a website.
After unprecedented interest generated by the ballet of baby swimming, BETC Euro RSCG tried approaches less literal youth: a ballet of old, then the inner voice of children singing We will rock you Queen. The soundtrack was a success unprecedented in the history of music pub. Finally, the "Roll Baby" are the bridge between the magical world of baby swimming and musical event of the previous film.
Here is a link of the "We will rock you" video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6l_pM2XAgc&feature=related
And the one that just came out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs
I think they are really cool and funny videos!
Communication theory has evolved as the acedemic study of communication has grown. We saw from the class how communication models have evolved from linear models to non-linear model and more complex and in-depth models. This evolution was developed to include one crucial aspect. For two People to have a conversation, two linear communications take place. However, by viewing this interaction as two seperate linear communications, it leaves out the important factor of response. How did the first communication affect the second.
ReplyDeleteFor almost all communications, they follow some non-linear pattern. The restaurant that I work for has many levels of communication. Since the restaurant is in a college town, our amount of business directly relates to the college schedule. Based on profits, the corporate office determines a percentage for payroll that they feel is acceptable. They pass this on to the restaurant management. It is then determined the amount of hours they are allowed to schedule per week. If this was a linear interaction, that would be the result with no question. However, the restaurant needs to determine how much staff they actually need to properly run the restaurant. If situations such as IUP's homecoming or IUP hosting a tournament arise, the hours determined will produce a payroll percentage far lower then allowable and result in bad service and damaged reputation.
I believe that the emotional response is the key important role in a non-linear communication model.
I found a webpage discussing the history of Claude Shannon, one the developers of linear models that we discussed in class.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon/Shannon.html
I was working in the marketing department of a company called Viessmann; the Viessmann group of companies is one of the leading international manufacturers of heating systems.
ReplyDeleteI worked there during 8 months; my mentor during my internship was a really nice and professional person. I learned a lot from him, how to look for concrete data, which sources to use, how to verify the consistence of these data. How to do a clear presentation, and transmit the data I found in an easy and understanding way to my managers.
The problem I had to face was the following, the director of the marketing department where I was working. He was a really hard and good worker, but such a bad manager, and he didn’t really care about young students doing their internship, like me. When he wanted something to be done, it was only direct communication, no exchange. I remember once, he came into my office, like a hurricane, I had my door always open, welcome to everyone, he fire few sentences, he wanted me to look for information about a new gas heater, and what the competition already proposed on the market, and he left.
Therefore, I had no time to ask him any questions, do I have to look for a product similar to ours, which gas heater exactly, we had different models, different size, and did he wanted to know the prices, and especially, for when did he wanted these data?
When I wanted to ask further questions, he was never available, always busy or in a meeting, and nobody else could help me. So I try my best, did some researches, found a lot of data, sort them, and wrote three pages, and give him back 2 days later.
I had no idea if what I did was good or not, just few days later, my mentor came into my office, saying that I wrote to many things, the manager had no time to read it, and that I had to do some graphs with the data.
He could have told me this before, I would have done immediately the right work, and I had no feedback from the manager, only through my mentor, what I didn’t really like…
This was one of my first frustration concerning communication, within a company, I’m sure I will have more of these type of situations, now I’m prepare to, and will manage them differently next time !!
Hereby the link of the company Viessmann I worked for.
http://www.viessmann.com/com/en/portrait.html
Continuing with the idea of a company image with communication theory:
ReplyDeleteRoughly two and half years ago I was working at Subs N Suds here in Indiana. At this point, the place had the company image of having cheap pizza that was good to eat. I had I long talk with the manager one night and he explained how he worked to keep Subs N Suds’ image targeted to college students.
Firstly, he started by doing promotional coupon (buy one slice, get one free or something like that) add with the CollegeStore during the beginning of the semesters so that it gave students a reason to come to the restaurant and possibly try the pizza for the first time or just make sure returning students come back. During this time also, he made sure that pizza by the slice were greatly above average size for slices at other pizza places, which helped promote the cheap and tasty image. Other methods ranged from making sure the proper proportions of spices were added to the sauce, to daily battles with food suppliers to make sure we had the best price for cheese, making sure the pizza boxes clearly showed the logo and phone number, and the manager even targeted certain personalities of employees to makes sure that the atmosphere fit the company image.
After being away from Indiana for two years, Subs N Suds image has completely changed with the current manager. The slices are much smaller, the pizza tastes different, the employee uniforms are black instead of blue, and the pizza boxes are different. Lots of little changes can communicate completely different messages to your target market. The pizza is still cheap, but it’s not the same place it once was.
Communication has come a long way from it meager beginnings and with those advances, so was there also a need for many different communication models. They could be linear, circular or a mix of both. In my experiences, I have dealt with many of the various models. As a DJ for my radio station at Penn State, I sent my music and my voice over the radio waves and other people picked up those signals either in their cars antennae or streaming online. However, I never got any communication back from the masses so it was a one way form of communication like Schramm’s first model.
ReplyDeleteBut there are other times in which other models are at work. For example, one summer, I interned with William J. Green & Associates. Every morning, we would get an agenda of what we were going to talk about in the morning meeting through our e-mail. Then in the meeting, our boss would break down everything on the agenda. Once he was done, he opened the floor to questions and comments that we could ask either at the meeting or by e-mailing him later. This type of communication reminds me more of the Westley-Maclean Model.
I found a nice video on the communication model: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDoZZQlCjA4
To me the most important thing when it comes to communication theory is the development of good two way communication. The above posts talk a lot about the use of theories to create an effective communication strategy with customers, however there seems to be little effort in the market place for the development of two way communication.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this in my own work experiences and the difference that it can make. As a Blockbuster employee communication from upper management was always one way with no opportunity to ask questions of corporate level directives. The only input that store level staff could provide was to our direct supervisor the district manager who would roll it up the latter.
Despite many communication problems the company eventually developed a program for store level input that really helped creat a sense of ownership. To this do the company offer cash incentive to turn in suggestions that would improve the business and overall operations. The program was short lived whether the company felt to many resources were beig used in its management, or they deemed no benefit from it we will never know.
Even though Blockbusters attempt at two way communication was short lived I feel that more companies should develop and follow through with programs such as Blockbuster's. It can provide extremely valuable information for upper management especially for those companies that are in the retail market, as these managers rarly step foot in their stores.
Communication is the mode of transmitting the information from one source to the other through the use of certain channels like radio, print, mass media, etc. The theory is all about relates that in any organization, there’s must be the existence of a source of information. This source is been utilized by sender that sends the valuable information to a receiver.
ReplyDeleteMy Real Life Example:
When i first came to US there were election campaining going on and I had no idea as to how political things work in United States. I din't knew Obama nor Mc Cain at that time, But as the days progressed and i started watching the campaining telecasts being held by both Obama and Mc Cain. I personally felt like if given a chance I will definately support Obama not just because he is a good speaker but also his mode of making other people understand what is required and what is not at that particular time for the United States.
Even tough Mc Cain came up with good ideas but he couldn't convince the people to make him win the elections. Lastly i would say Communication Theories plays a vital role for the success of any indiviadual or the corporation or the nation as a whole.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/02/15/obama-explains-his-campaign-strategy.html