Well Hello,

It has been quite sometime since my last post. Lame of me, because I kind of stopped because I thought I had filled the required criteria to pass that part of my IMS unit. I did want to post on a number of occasions, however I told myself I was just looking for ways to distract myself from the fun of a Sunday afternoon dissertation time! I also wanted to include the URL of this blog on my CV in my recent job hunt, however due to the last post I thought prospective employers might think me a little crazy!...but I will now officially write from a grown up, less crazy perspective!

Anyway, never in the last year have I felt so compelled to communicate my emotions through this interactive medium till now! I just secured my first proper out of uni grad job with a digital media agency! I have been job hunting for months and panicking because I was one of the few members of my course yet to find a job! I found my self applying for just any job willy nilly, not necessarily one that I actually wanted. However, when I came across the application form for this graduate scheme I knew I had found my one. Anybody can tell from their assessment process alone how unique they are in their abilities. They give every candidate a real opportunity to demonstrate their skills, not just talk about themselves, they really gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our understanding and enthusiasm for the dynamic industry of online marketing!

One of the main features that excited me about this digital media agency, and that I think, differentiates themselves from their competitors is that not only are they experts in online marketing and execute a wide range of successful online campaigns, but they include mobile marketing into their portfolio of techniques. Mobile devices are such a powerful method of communicating a message, particularly with younger generations who may have developed a more powerful ignorance of online advertising than older generations. I don't think many agencies realise the power of mobile marketing and being part of a company who embrace it is very exciting.

Anyway, my intentions for the future are to frequent this blog with interesting new facts and links and online communication phenomenons, and probably the occasional emotional outbreak. I know that joining this agency is going to give me the opportunity to work with some of the best practitioners in the online marketing industry and hopefully I too will be able to develop my expertise to create an informative and interesting blog.

I am due to start in 6 days so I'm thinking, unless the shock of the commute gets the better of me, I will be so enthused after my first day I will write a post in the evening to get the ball rolling. Otherwise I'm sure one day next week I will write to tell you about the exciting events of my first week with the most inspiring digital agency.

Bye.

Evening all! sorry I missed my Sunday afternoon slot yesterday but I didn't make it to the library. Working from home was the more appealing, but not quite as productive, option that won!
Anyway. So I'm working on my interactive assignment and proposing for an online community to be facilitated at http://www.mothercare.com/ for everything pregnancy and baby related, as I have seen how successful other communities like this are online. However there is only one identifiable direct competitor http://www.babyworld.co.uk/, which offers visitors both an online shop, and forum facility. All other pregnancy forums identified did not have a shopping facility.

And as Mike rightly pointed out today, why would consumers use my empty forum, when they could just Google "pregnancy forum", and find a better one. I still think the idea and proposal will be valid, however will have to take into account that this may be a limitation to the idea.

BUT, from the resource centre present on the mothercare website, mothers could be redirected to these other forums and the value of information would still be added by mothercare, however the potential of return to the site would be much lower ( I imagine).

Oh dear I'm not very articulate tonight! yer but, neoww but, he said she said yer but! Forgive me, its nearly bed time but I wanted to leave a note.

So, topic at hand. Today's seminar task was to email a company with a fictitious complaint, or comment to see what kind of automated response was sent back. We also discussed the idea of ganging up on one company and all sending numerous emails from numerous addresses to see if we could cause some kind of crisis. The ill-fated company is yet to be decided upon, as is my personal complaint. And its because I thought if I made this comment on the forum, others might think me a little crazy.

But I couldn't help it, in my research, Iv been reading pregnancy forums all week!!! So the thought that came to mind was that we could all email a condom company (e.g. Durex) and for everyone to say their condoms broke and everyone is pregnant, 300 people all at once! And we are demanding them either to pay for child support or a hefty sum of hush money! I don't know, I imagine they will have had complaint's like this in the past and therefore might have an automated response all ready for it! Who knows!?

I don't think I will do it tonight as I think my craziness has peaked for one day. So I will say goodnight now, and hopefully have a more interesting, not baby related complaint to talk about tomorrow!

Sweet Dreams!

Hello again,
Not long since I last visited. You will be glad to hear the glasses arrived this morning, not in time for the celebratory drinks. But I will forgive ASOS because they are so pretty! and came in the most enormous box? And they threw in a few freebies, ryvita minis, some magazines and these weird Loreal gel pad thingies that are supposed to reduce cellulite? Sounds like a load of crap to me, but I thought I would have a play. I currently have one on my stomach, which i will remove in 5-6 hours, and I'll let you know the results another time.

Any way, so, for the last couple of months, I and a few others have been organising this event which is supposed to promote an alliance with the Bournemouth University Marketing Students, and the Wessex Branch of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. It has been a very good experience with a really successful outcome. But it has been a very frustrating experience also. I know as students preparing to go into the businesses world, one must expect to be stabbed in the back, or have the rewards of your hard work reaped by another. But its such a let down when it actually happens. When thanks was given to those that arranged the event yesterday, and a post event drink was being arrange, people that had no involvement whatsoever dominated the attention of the speaker and from then on were 100% involved, leaving those that have given up hours and hours arranging the event in the shadows.

And those that were claiming to have contributed to the organisation of the event had ignored every email requesting volunteers for taking control of various things that needed to be taken care of if the event was to go to plan. So if I, and others had done the same by ignoring these arrangements, the event would have been a complete failure.

It was quite the opposite though. The speaker was Paul Charles, Director of Corporate Communications at Virgin Atlantic, who gave a really inspirational presentation that engaged the audience throughout. It was so informative and applicable to the students work. There was a panel session after that allowed for audience members to ask questions to the speaker, 2 members of the University Staff, and the chairman and director of the Wessex branch of the CIM. Paul also surprised everyone with the prospect of winning 2 tickets to any Virgin Atlantic destination, which was subsequently won by a final year International Marketing student. This concluded a hugely successful night that I feel I played a big part in arranging. I will try and forget about my anger, and really appreciate the fact that I had the opportunity to be involved in such an exciting event, and I seized it.

I will leave you with the thought, "seize every opportunity that comes your way!", and as this is my first evening with my beautiful martini glasses, I shall seize the opportunity to use them and christen them with a white wine spritzer and a heat crossword. Not overly James Bond but it works for me!

Hello all, well, it appears that writing in the library on a Sunday afternoon is "my thing"! So I might just have to keep it up. This week has been none too eventful, well apart from the hissy fits being thrown left right and centre! I think every ones tension threshold is at maximum limit at the moment, so I'm a little fearful as to what is in store between now and .... the end! which might seem far away, but its literally an issue of weeks and days.
I do get sad at the prospect of my education ending as I will never have experiences quite like university again. But when you're at the point of your course that I am in now, all you are waiting for is the end, the ability to wake up in the morning an not feel guilty when the first thing you do is to not head to your laptop, or reach for a journal and a highlighter! yuk!

But ...there are lots of fun things one can do with a lap top and the internet, and fortunately, my course has the requirement for me to do so!!! I shop Therefore I am!
Seeing as I haven't been able to justify going out shopping to myself since, well, Christmas!!! I do escape my work quite frequently and head on over to the shopping centre that is the Internet. My main targets recently have been eBay, Amazon, and ASOS (As seen on screen), all of which I have made a purchase from in the last 3 weeks!

Amazon, was a "boring" (e.g. relating to my academic needs rather than my superficial need for pretty things needs) purchase and it was a book about marketing on the internet, I left a review this time due to the number of times I had used the library copy, I was sick of returning and therefore bought my own copy. It was my first review, I doubt it will be my last, but I cant say I buy books that frequently :s so I always doubt the validity of my comments! I do however read the comments of others when I am contemplating a purchase that I am not entirely sure about.

On eBay, quite interesting actually as somebody in our forum brought attention to the SD memory cards and their availability on eBay, and whether or not they are real, and from Japan etc. That very week I got me a new mobile phone, which has a fabulous camera in it, but without a memory card! damn vodafone!!! Anyway, before I made my purchase, I had a lengthy discussion with my housemate, who is conveniently a guru on buying an selling phones and accessories on eBay! Who recommended a 512Mb card, and to make sure it was from a U.K. seller so I would not have to wait weeks for it to be transported around the world, and pay double the price for transportation! which I did, and paid 13 english pounds, and it was delivered by the Posty a mere 2 days later! happy eBay-er hannah. And good feedback for "tmduk".
A few weeks previously I was shopping for ink cartridges on eBay as my student funding wasn't keen on purchasing authentic Epson cartridges! God forbid! And again, my guru housemate stepped in, not so much to point me in the right direction, but to warn me of faux ink sellers, who merely re-fill empty cartridges a quarter of the way, and sell them on. So I was prepared, but only paid a fraction of the Branded price. You will be glad to hear, the cartridges purchase d work fine, and have lasted quite well (considering the amount of crap its been churning out recently).

And finally, my favourite one!!! I was having my weekly shop on ASOS a few days ago (not that I purchase something every week from there, but I touch base every few days, see if they've added anything appealing to the clearance section... sigh ) Anyway, months ago I had these beautiful black wine glasses which I loved and nurtured ....AND SOMEBODY BROKE ONE!!!! steaming! That was ages ago and my lovely housemate did try to heal the pain by getting me some fabulously huge red ones which hold at least half a bottle of wine in each (needless to say, they're all we use now!).... anyway, we're also rather partial to the occasional tequila margarita in our house. So we do need a cocktail glass selection in the cupboard as well! And whilst shopping this week, hannah came across some black cocktail glasses, and was super excited!
Fortunately, they were not purchased immediately....I'll tell you why...

After our lecture last week on websites that completely dominate an online industry, for example, amazon = books, eBay = buying and selling (exchange and mart?), lastminute.com = travel agencies. A site that was mentioned made such an impact that I went and investigated straight after the lecture. www.hotukdeals.com, was soon added to my favourites! What a goldmine! But at the top of the list when I visited for a second time yesterday, were at least 3 promotional codes for ASOS.com to get 20% of purchases! how convenient!!!

So as of about an hour ago, the glasses have been purchased (at a discounted price) and should hopefully be with us to have a celebratory drink on Tuesday. There is a guest speaker coming to the university on Tuesday, which myself and others have been organising. Venue, catering, tickets, distribution and a whole bunch of other stuff that I have spent hours on this week, and will be quite relieved when it goes according to plan and is over and done with.
I shall go home to give the good news to my housemate, and discuss whether the purchase requires a celebratory drink tonight also?

Chin Chin!

Here I am again. Been a while. You can so tell by my last 2 posts I'm a girl....can anybody smell hormones? oops! It's true though, sentimental crap does make me mushy and annoying loud girls piss me off! Which I'm sure is true for everyone! ( I think I am being a bit of a boy today)
Just to let you know, I got my second mark back of the term and got 62 which I was pleasantly surprised with again, so things are on the up you will be glad to hear.
I thought I would mention, that for my interactive media report, I am planning to look into communities and their uses to organisations if they were to run one on their website. I was looking particularly at women's websites. I found them to be so open and sharing, and a genuinely caring community to come into. Also, as all of these women are brought together by the topic of their threads, they have common interests that they really want to talk about.
Some of which were weddings, where women talked about: proposals, rings, dresses, locations, grooms, photographers. Even if you hadn't participated, you'd know they best jewelers, the best photographers. Even if you were a fella getting ready to make a proposal, its a great place to get ideas.
I then looked on the pages that are regarding pregnancy, babies, conception, motherhood. Some of these women had made thousands of posts in their time. They all knew each others babies, families, birth stories, and presumably have never even met. I though for somebody on the outside that had no experience of any of these things, but wanted to find out, it was an amazing source of information. The women were so open about sharing their experiences, offering advice, helping each other with problems.
So then I thought a company who's target market consisted of women like these, would benefit greatly facilitating a community such as this. And I came up with "Mothercare". The majority of people going to that website would be expecting a child, hoping to expect a child or know somebody that is expecting.
And it would benefit the company as if they developed a community, their customers would be coming back to participate in the forum and would then browse the shop whilst waiting for responses. They would get an insight into the needs and wants of their customers, perhaps ideas for new products. They could be adding value to their services, perhaps by having doctors, or experts participating in the forum? I should really be writing this in my assignment rather than on here.
Going to head home soon I think, library ain't that buzzing. But I will be sure to write this week about my latest online purchases, of which there have been a few you will be glad to hear.
Ooh and I must tell you about the new additions to my house as well....very exciting!
(don't worry, not babies if you're concerned about my previous topic! hehe)

Happy Monday,
So I just had my first official uni day of 2007, which consisted of an Interactive media lecture and seminar. The Lecture in the morning had been relocated from last terms Poole house slot, into the Lee's lecture theatre. I had not had a lecture in this room since back in my first year! 4 years ago!!! Back in the autumn of 2003, BAIM, BAM, BAAMC and BAPR, would all trek there on a Thursday evening and listen to Stewart rambling on about Levis, and Campaigns and other advertising treats, when all we were contemplating was what to do before heading to The opera House! It was really strange. It sounds so cliché, but the room actually seemed so much smaller than I had remembered. It felt like the room had doubled in size since the first time I had stepped in there for my introductory lecture where we met the SU president and all of our lecturers for the year!
And then this afternoon in the seminar, after discussing ideas and criteria for the assignment. We got to talking about day dreaming, andfantasizingg and nostalgia. How everybody does it, but few admit what thier fantasies consist of. And if more people were to open up, would realise that most people lust after the same ideas! It did not take long for eBay to arise in conversation and 2 girls both confessing to having browsed for 'CareBears' in the past. Then there was debate about how people associate such items from years gone by, that take them back to that time. Items can take people back to a certain memory. And what could have been a happier time.
I have to say, Im not a very CareBear girl, but I do admit to having browsed around the Polly Pocket section of eBay, where I was happy to discover a number a goods, some of which I recognised from my childhood collection! And when I saw them (including the pictured clock) it really did make me smile. It brought back memories of playing with these figures and fantasising about ficticious scenarios in which thecharacterss were involved! Oh to live in the top of amantelpiecee clock, with a ladder up the side, and aswingingg butterfly chair!
I have always been a very sentimental type. Never to throw anything away. And to keep boxes of little memories of trips, or events, or gifts, or just a birthday card. I never thought of these keepsafes as items that would allow me to fantacise about a time where I was happier. But to never let me forget these memories that do make me happy. Perhaps I am preparing myself for a time where I can use these items forstimulationn to make myself happy.
Thinking about it, when I have reached for my box of memories in the past, it has been at a time where I need to make myself feel better, or remind myself that people care. So it is helping me get away from my current state of mind, and transform it to a happier place. And I love that I can do that. If my house were to burn down; that memory box, and my boxes of photographs, would be the most devastatingg items to lose. As there is absolutely nothing that would be able to reincarnate them and I would feel like my memories had been taken away. Its strange but its true, but the most insignificant items to one person could be the most valuable possessionss to another.

p.s. so you go into the library on a Sunday afternoon, and find a secluded little computer, in a quiet little spot. And the most irritatingly noisy person finds you and sits a mere 2 meters away.
I heard this noise echoing around the bookshelves, that sounded like an amplified supermarket trolly, with one of it's wheels loose, being dragged around a metallic floor! Turns out its a stupid chunky neclace with beads and a giant heart and a key and probably a diamonte crusifix and the contents of the cutlery drawer hanging from it. That every move the wearer makes, that charming sound is projected again!!
I might be touchy, and grouchy! But is there any need!? who are these people accessorising for!?!
And then you think as they pack up their laptop, put back their books, the silence will return.
....oh no no no
Just took a break to go and get chrisps and sweets and canned carbonated drinks. All the kinds of things not allowed in the library, and apparently take about 20 very noisy and ruslty minutes to eat. (with their mouth open, so everyone around gets to experience the eating process also)
What next you might say!? well I hate to break it to you , but the annoying phone conevrsation has already taken place. BUT! "Stace" wasnt there, so will be getting a call back later!...Can't wait!

Oh I'm so tired. Work is so boring. Well it's not, but my head hurts from too much computer and journals etc. I got my first mark back on Friday (it's Sunday today), very pleased with it. I previously mentioned how I disliked the briefing for both of the assignments we were given last term. When I thought about getting back my work, I came out in a cold sweat becuase of the fear that I didnt meet the criteria. Every piece of work I do, I do it to the best of my ability, but when I dont know what is expected, thats where the fear kicks in. (fortunatly, I did meet the criteria!)
Thats quite how I'm feeling about my dissertation at the moment. I think about it every waking hour. But its just so unique and elabourate in comparison to my other assignments, I could be going off on a tangent! alas! I will stop talking about it else I will just get myself in a fizz!
My eyes are also sleepy due to my charming other half who paid me a visit at 3am this morning after a late night poker game concluded! Although, I'm probably just bitter because I was knocked out at 12:30 and after a brief stint as dealer decided my bed was the more appealing option. There's £5 I'll never see again!
Perhaps I will go and brush up on my poker skills now by playing online! All in the name of research of course!