AP 2.0 - Interview with AP

The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, and is the world's largest such organization. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staffers. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributive members of the cooperative.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press regarding a new strategic planning position. I learned and became familiar with AP 2.0. This is a business model that isn't complete because it changes so much but was established because of years of research regarding the technology shift of media. Their research and analysis confirms the continuing decline of print and the increase in new media. AP's biggest concerns are when a story break their are so many avenues to the public. How are they able to monitor media or will they even be able to monitor media given the internet's nature.

My interviewer asked me where I thought their business model was headed to in the future. I replied that their business model rely heavily on creating strategic alliances with GYM - Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft - These are the major players in the new media distribution. These players will control how, when and where our media is received. Creating alliances with these companies that allows AP to harness their network for AP's media will possible be the approach AP needs to look into.

I haven't received the internship yet but maybe my answer will seperate me from the other candidates. I will keep you posted.

Dr. Pepper's Cherry Chocolate Rain

Tay Zonday made You Tube history in 2007 when his music video entitled, "Chocolate Rain" became You Tube's most watched video. Tay Zonday is an American singer and song writer that became famous when he made a music videos became extremely popular on the net. Dr. Pepper seized this moment and displayed an advertising concept that was incredible.

"When Dr Pepper wanted to get the word out about its newly introduced flavor, it didn't turn to its advertising agency, WPP Group's Young & Rubicam, San Francisco. Instead, the soft drink maker engaged True Entertainment, a production company based in New York, to craft a viral video for Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper." - High
(http://www.adweek.com)

24 hours after the original post there were 300,000 views, a week later over a million and after a month close to 3 million. Not to mention all the free press this video has caused through Tay Zonday and various talk shows that has featured Zonday. Dr. Pepper made an innovative advertising concept that has truly paid off.

220 PRODUCTIONS

During my undergraduate academic career at West Virginia University, I noticed the need for a promotional and marketing company designed to accommodate the needs of small businesses and student organizations. West Virginia University rests in a small town with a population of fewer than 60,000 individuals and over 25,000 being students. This provided an excellent model to cater to small businesses largely founded by alumni or current students.

While gathering research on such a firm, I noticed the emergence of social network sites such as Facebook and Myspace and quickly noticed a tool that could grow into our competitive advantage. Creating a competitive advantage became my first priority. Along with my co-founder, we began to gather market research and list compiled of student email addresses from student organizations and various events. We understood that our advantage depended on ways to attract, gather, and track students at WVU. With this information base and our ability to attract the collegiate market through sponsored events, we began to create leverage for any company or individual needing to market to Morgantown’s target audience.

After a number of successful production events to gather and track information from our target audience, 220 Productions started to become a brand. 220 became powerful brand by connecting advertisements and events to students via new media.

Nightlife companies began to take interest in our services. These companies were small businesses that couldn’t afford an internal marketing or promotional base. New media resources such as Facebook and Myspace became excellent and efficient way to market to their target audience. 220 Productions had created and maintained large groups and friends compiled of WVU students and individuals in the surrounding community. Consequently, 220 Productions became the premier company for businesses needing to attract the collegiate market mainly due to our use of new media. We began to expand in that direction. I started to acquire management and marketing knowledge from other similar production companies. We began interviewing and hiring graphic designers with the ability to design a number of marketing necessities such as flyers, websites, blogs and logos. As a production company, we wanted to facilitate as much in house services as possible in an attempt to specifically cater to every client.

Landing substantial Morgantown nightlife contracts solidified our work and provided an excellent opportunity in undergrad to develop marketing and management skills in the emergence of new media. We gained knowledge and the ability to attract the collegiate target audience within our 60,000 person community. Our services grew to flyer design, website design, full graphic design, event planning and full marketing planning. Our clients began to spread to various other small business categories including non-profit organizations. Our natural ability to market to the collegiate market due to their and our dependence on new media has become our specialty and strength. In the future, 220 Productions will continue to grow to a number of different markets and services.