Week 7 EOC: Pitch

For my pop up, I'd like a burger shack that pulls inspiration for burgers from around the country. The US is an expansive country with a multitude of different styles of food. For California, seeing as they're so health conscious it would be a veggie burger with avocado and sold in a combo with a tea and baked chips, while the roadhouse burger (Texas influenced) would be a steak burger with A1 sauce, onion rings, with a side of fries. A common question with ordering food is normally "what's good on the menu?", so before the question is asked, whomever is at the register and ringing up will have their favorite item on their name badge. It would be a small menu of simply sandwich/burger style options. The only specialty drink would be a tea, possibly Fuze tea brand. Baked chips or fries as the two option for sides if wanted. There wouldn't be too much, making it possible to be put up and taken down within a pretty simple amount of time. (To be continued)

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Social media has become a pretty big part of society today. Everyone normally has some form of an account to update, making their most personal thoughts public. While it may seem crazy that jobs are sorting through Facebook for potential employees, it makes a lot of sense. A resume or application will note the person's highest points, but no one really knows what they're like until someone taps into some of their most personal details. They can say they're hard workers and offer a reference that will agree, but that doesn't necessarily make it true. "Candidates tend to value referrals from their connections on Facebook more." (Light, 2011) Which is honestly true. Facebook friends tend to be more honest than those hand picked and potentially more useful. Because essentially everyone uses Facebook, it'll be hard to compete with one of the top social media platforms. Job listings are definitely still prominent, but Facebook has the means to work just the same. Essentially people do go to social media to speak on how much they love certain brands. Instead of figuring out a giant PR scheme, it'd be easier to find the people that genuinely enjoy the product and use them as sales opportunities. Consumers being used as brand ambassadors seems to be a smart tool and potentially cheaper for the company as well. "For the ambassadors, it’s often a labor of love more than a paying job. Rewards include product samples, gifts, discounts, and token cash payments." (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011) This is a good way to spread the word about product references and grow as a company. Planting people that enjoy your product on social media to endorse it. This can be seen all over instagram, with celebrities and those with a lot of followers being sent free products to endorse. Skinny mint tea, being one of the bigger names to do so, as well as the waist trainer trend.

Week 4 EOC: New Phone App

A common issue I have is when I want to listen to music, I never really know which song to pick that fits my mood. And the song that plays after will completely throw me off and I'll end up wanting to change it either way. If I could create any app it would be one to guess your song choice based on your mood. The touch ID pad would be used almost as a "mood detector" and would work to pick a song to play or find a few songs that would work for your mood. The free version would do 10 songs at a time, while the paid version would put together a playlist of 15, 25, and 50 songs at a time. It would also store the playlists to get at a later date. It'd be a lot easier than having to switch songs and going through however many thousand songs available on your iPhone or iPod. It would also be a lot easier for those driving, and instead of risking your lives to change the song, it'd have a perfect one next up. Many people can relate to having the perfect song playing and then later it changes to one that basically ruins it. With this app there won't be any awkward situations where you can go from a 2 Chainz song to a Michael Buble song, on your way to a party. I would imagine more so teenagers and young adults would download this app than anyone older or younger. More likely the ages 16- 23.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Pencils of Promise is an organization formed to build schools in countries that seem to lack in the educational system. Their most talked about venture being, the school that was built from scratch with the help of celebrity Justin Bieber. Since, the literacy of PoP 2nd graders has gone up 33%. (PoP website) Their biggest support has come from Justin Bieber, who has donated a portion of each ticket sold from his believe tour to the charity. Justin Bieber has gotten a bad wrap in the music industry from a multitude of stunts pulled in 2013 and 2014. These proceeds have seemed to go under the radar, much like his constant awarding in the year end "most charitable celebrity". "He and Justin were able to turn several hundred thousand fans into several hundred thousand philanthropists with each of them giving one dollar to the organization." (Braun, 2011) This following the Christmas album released by Bieber that was one of the first Universal releases that had proceeds going to charities such as Make-A-Wish and Pencils of Promise. (Fekadu, 2011) The male also holds a record with Make-A-Wish as holder of the most wishes granted. This is in contrast to the many negative reports that have come out about Bieber. While he isn't a business, he is a brand that uses his massive fanbase to donate to a multitude of charities.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

I was born in 1993, making me part of the millennial generation. We are considered the most technologically advanced of all generations, which is technically a given considering the fact we are the generation that has gone through the most technology changes. It's apparent in most households considering most parents look to their children to assist them in the most simple technology based themes. iPhones and most other Apple products have been introduced and mastered by those of this generation. We are also the most diverse of the generations. Looking at the make up of the U.S. it is visible that each person is generally different. We all differ from our ethnicity down to personalities. If you take a look in any college class now, generally a wide range of people will be seen. On the topic of college, we are also the generation more reliant on loans to attend college. By the end of 2014, student debt has risen to an astounding 1 trillion dollars. A larger share of low income households have had at least one child attend college, the interest in private education going up. As a millennial that relies in most part to student loans, there is some truth to this. Attending the Art institute I get weekly updates on my loans, those of which I often hesitate to check considering I don't want to scare myself. Given the above facts, I believe these are generally truthful and very apparent in myself as well as my peers.