Cheap Feats.

A few days ago, a post on Reddit attracted much attention. This specific post was the picture of a receipt from Olive Garden, supposedly the result of a family being comped by the restaurant for their recent woes. The daughter autonomously told the waiter that her grandpa's house had just burned down, and Olive Garden made sure their meal for the night was free.

Brandjacking

Much can be said for brands that truly treat their customers right. However, many were skeptical that this picture was the product of a hoax. Comments on the Reddit thread speculated that the picture was fake, the company hired the poster for publicity, or even that they set up the situation in the store. Many Internet-users happen to be quite cynical, so it's no surprise that there were many doubts about the situation.

Whether or not it is true that Olive Garden is at fault here wouldn't be known unless someone admitted wrongdoing. Simply denying involvement, even if true, does little to curb the doubts of the opposing side of any situation. The real topic worth discussing, though, is how could this "brandjacking" tactic be utilized more effectively, if at all.

Internet users despise corporate sponsorship in their websites. They don't like clutter by itself, but when it is being advertised at them against their will, they see it as wrong. However, many companies might find that a lot of their target markets frequent free sites like Reddit, Imgur, and other social sharing sites. At this point in time, though, it doesn't seem like any certain company has figured out how to effectively navigate these waters.

The problem with companies on these sites is that they stick out very easily when they try direct advertising. So let's pretend for a second that the Olive Garden incident was, indeed, staged. What did they do wrong? What could they have done better?

For starters, the message portrayed in the story is fantastic. It's selfless and considerate, and the average person can always appreciate that. However, when posed as a setup, it seems like the company is toying with the emotions of everyone, belittling the woes that could actually be a reality for someone else. It comes off as manipulative and a little evil. Once this is pointed out, the fight to correct this train of thought is an uphill battle in a very downhill-type environment.

If a company was to actually try and use this approach of marketing, which seems very guerrilla in nature to me, they would need to establish a reputation on whichever site they were utilizing. Reddit and Imgur show how long users have held membership with their sites, and often what they comment or post, so other users can evaluate the authenticity of the user based off of that information alone. They would need to use this otherwise-established account for a one-time stunt that could draw much attention to wherever they see fit. Nothing too outrageous, though, or else users won't believe what they see.

The online community is often a difficult crowd to reach with marketing materials, but this Olive Garden controversy is a good example of a company that, by accident, may or may not have gotten closer to figuring it out.

Reading Media.

As I grew up in the public educational system, I consistently believed that students suffered a vast disconnect with their instructors. I didn't necessarily think this was an issue that was unique to our generation, but it did seem like that disconnect was growing more and more the older I grew. The problem with technology advancement is that as the overall quality of available technology increases, the number of people both qualified and competent in using that technology decreases. For a generation of educators that grew up without much technology, it is often difficult to overcome this disconnect without first educating themselves.

Media Literacy

One thing in particular I recall from my early days of education was the struggle that accompanied finding solid research to support my projects for school. A great amount of information has been on the Internet for years, so relevancy was never an issue like credibility was. Research methods weren't integrated into my educational curricula until about middle school, after numerous science fairs and projects had already happened.

When students are given improper or no instruction and expected to use that as the foundation of their educational development, it corrupts their personal growth and prevents them from utilizing all of the resources available to them. This is why it is important to not just have standard "tech ed" classes in high schools, but to create spots in early education curricula to foster both interest and knowledge of technology and its many uses.

Bolstering media literacy will help combat the idea that not everything on the Internet is true. False information exists to mislead and fool those who don't know what types of sources or information to trust online. If the general population is more aware of what they can trust online, this trend of misleading information should both lose its effectiveness and decline in total presence.

Involving the younger generations in the knowledge of how to use computers and the Internet affects both educational and social aspects of their lives. Increasing the money dedicated to technology education will help sustain the virtuous cycle that the general field of technology has created for itself.

Running Out of Time.

I talked in my last post about publications needing to move along with digitization. With technology only advancing in its superiority, print media is becoming harder and harder to stand by as a primary source of income for businesses. To fight rapidly decreasing revenues, Time Inc. has been looking to sell off many of its print publications off to other publishers. In an attempt to focus on what they do better, film and television, many big name magazines were supposed to be sold to publisher Meredith. This did not happen, though.

Time Inc. Is Up for Grabs

The company's annual revenue of $28.7 billion is nothing to scoff at, but it has been shrinking recently, in large part because of the digitization of the industry. With so many prestigious publications to their name, it's tough to single out any as worthy or safe enough for an attempt at going digital.

Though the deal with Meredith fell through, Time Inc. is still looking to sell off their publications at some point this year. As long as their other areas of focus stay profitable throughout the year, holding onto this division should not be an issue for the company.

However, it's my opinion that they should hold on to at least a few of their big names, such as Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. Each of these publications has a wide viewership that can be targeted easily, especially with the name recognition that each has. Frequency of publication varies between each, but a devoted effort to transitioning these titles to the online world could prove worth the effort. Prices for annual subscriptions would not have to come down too much, since consumers would be receiving the same amount of content, and the margin for producing it all would skyrocket. Overall, it could make an already-extremely profitable company even more rich.

Click (and Pay) to Subscribe.

In class, we've talked a good amount about digital subscriptions. Primarily, our conversations were rooted in attempts to find viable solutions for print media as they either combat or go along with digitization.

Digital Subscriptions

The article linked above shows the attempt of some of these print media legends to stay in the game. The Wall Street Journal was one of the main sources mentioned in class discussion, and they are the first mentioned in the article. They are a credible enough source to successfully draw their readers to their online content.

Transparency of pricing has been one of their main concerns, which happens to be a big deal in the digitization field. As more and more information is available online, it is becoming easier for consumers to see just where their money is going. Websites like Kickstarter show just how much of a product's price can be taken out when intermediaries aren't included.

Online publications take out the need for things like printing costs, thus at least partially cutting the cost of subscriptions, whether they be on a monthly or yearly basis. Some sites, like Baseball Prospectus, were started with an online foundation and have expanded slightly, even if only to the publishing of books with research. The margin on collecting money for online subscriptions is simply too high not to pursue over print subscriptions, and it will be vital to the survival of many of the media giants we have known for years.