Super Bowl Hype

On Sunday, February 1st at 6:30pm on NBC, the NFL Super Bowl XLIX (49 for those of you just as confused by Roman numerals as I am) at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona the New England Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks. Being a Packers fan myself (thanks to my best friend dragging me into the madness several years ago), I lost interest in the Super Bowl when the Packers lost to the Seahawks. As much as I try to be excited for the game, it's just not the same knowing we were so close but lost in an overtime after being tied and the Seahawks getting a touchdown. The whole point of this story is that the Super Bowl is literally being shoved down mine and everyone else's throats and quite frankly it makes me NOT want to watch it! The opposite effect that they're trying to get with all the promoting and advertisements. I've seen it all over the news on TV, ads on websites, and the radio. Seems like all media can focus on now is the Super Bowl when other more important things are happening in the world...

How Did Written Communication begin? (A Brief History Lesson, Kids)

Let's go back really, really, really far into the past, shall we? 25,000-30,000 B.C. there were cavemen and cavewomen who wanted to express themselves, show what they liked and their every day life, and thus the cave drawings were born! It was a way to communicate other than the grunts and body language (like pointing at what they want others to see) and began the process of (kind of) a written language. (click Here to read more on cave drawings and symbols) *This is what I think of when talking about cavemen- Then, fast forwarding clay and Egyptian hieroglyphics starting from about 3300 B.C. for about the next 3,500 years ("The ancient Egyptian word for hieroglyphs, literally translated as "language of the gods," indicates their importance. Priests used hieroglyphs to write down prayers, magical texts, and texts related to life after death and worshiping the gods. When preparing their tombs, many people had autobiographies and hieroglyphic guides of the afterworld written on the surfaces of tomb walls and on the insides of coffins. The Egyptians believed that these texts helped guide the dead through the afterlife." click Here to learn more about Egyptian Hieroglyphics) Then in 1500 to about 1000 B.C., The Chinese were like "Well, we should probably get to doing some of this 'writing' nonsense, too." and so, the Chinese writing was created, and found on some bones as the first kind of their writing. This writing became the fundamentals for languages such as Japanese, Korean, Yi Scripts, Khitan ("a powerful Mongolian tribe that dominated Northern China and established the Liao dynasty between the 10th and 12th centuries BCE") etc. To read more on Chinese manuscripts history, click Here As time went by, others were also curious as to having their own little thing in communicating. The first alphabet to be created was the base for both the Latin and the Hebrew alphabets, the Palestine alphabet. "Ancient writers wrote on a variety of other materials besides papyrus, including pottery, animal hides, wood, and even ancient paper. There was, to a certain extent, a progression over time from the use of papyrus to parchment and later, paper"- Here Later, a guy named Johann Gutenberg created the world's first printing press in the 1450's and printed the first book, a Bible. "Between 1450 and 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was completed. Early documentation states that a total of 200 copies were scheduled to be printed on rag cotton linen paper, and 30 copies on velum animal skin. It is not known exactly how many copies were actually printed. Today, only 22 copies are known to exist, of which 7 are on velum". click Here to learn more about this game changer. After years and many different changes in the printing presses, someone by the name of Joseph Henry created the telegraph, then Samuel Morse created the Morse Code, and then Alexander Bain with the first fax machine in 1843.Click Here for more. Basically, humans became smarter and smarter and more innovative and eventually we ended up where we are today- living for technology. If it wasn't for these people evolving language and print and communication, we wouldn't have computers or maybe we'd even still be all cavemen-like and such, or maybe we would be cavemen with computers…? Who knows?

Print Media in Danger After Attack in France?

By now, the world has heard of the atrocity that occurred two days ago in France. Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed in the attack on the Paris newspaper that had offensive cartoons of the Muslim Prophet, Muhammad. After the terrorist attack on the newspaper that had been threatened many times before, will print media become more restricted? "'No barbaric act will ever extinguish the freedom of the press," the French president said in a tweet. "We are a united country.'" Clearly, the French president isn't changing his mind soon, even after the stubbornness caused 12 deaths. I believe that the whole world is going to be a little more careful about what they post or print, due to this eye opening event. I hope only the best for everyone in France, and for print media overall.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-magazine-attack/charlie-hebdo-shooting-12-killed-muhammad-cartoons-magazine-paris-n281266

Social Media and Fashion Magazines

Social media has taken a large turn within the last 5 years. In 2010, an article was published on Mashable and the Social media portion really stood out to me. Here it is: "What About Social Media? Fashion magazines are clearly trying to corner their own share of the ever-expanding online and mobile advertising markets. But of all of the publishing executives I spoke with, only two — Susan Plagemann of Vogue and Ted Nadeau of Elle Digital — noted an increased demand for social media-based solutions from advertisers, even though more and more marketers are allocating funds to social platforms. That's perhaps not surprising, given the number of luxury brands that advertise in these magazines and their general reluctance to engage with social media. As contributor Samir Balwani argued in a previous post, luxury implies a sense of exclusivity — ergo, not everyone should be able to freely interact with the brand on Facebook and Twitter. "It's difficult for a brand to selectively choose who to interact with and, unless done properly, this segmentation could cause a major backlash," he said. I spoke with Axel Dumont, who oversees media duties for Chanel North America at MEC, about the challenges that Chanel, as a luxury brand, faces with social media. "Chanel is a very creative-driven, luxury-driven brand. And right now they would not go with anything that doesn't showcase the brand and make it beautiful," he said. "They don't want any interaction with their brand consumers. Chanel belongs to Chanel. It doesn't belong to anyone else but Chanel." Given the company's attitude, it's no wonder that Chanel and other luxury brands aren't willing to let publishers run with their brands on social media platforms. Web and mobile-based solutions offer much more control, both in creative production and distribution. Although magazines will begin to announce ad page sales this week, we won't likely know any details about the success of these web and mobile-based promotions — at least the ones that aren't tied to print — until they are launched in mid-August. Of the solutions that these magazines are presenting for fall, which do you think offers the most value to advertisers? And, as a consumer, which offerings do you most want to engage with? Share your thoughts in the comments below." http://mashable.com/2010/07/20/fashion-mags-digital-fall/

Magazine Distribution: Three Types

Thanks to Wikipedia, I have finally seen the light (the good, realization kind of light). After 6 searches on Google to try and find distribution methods, I had only gotten countless statistics, charts, and how-to's on starting your own magazine. That made no sense at all when all I clearly typed was "magazine distribution", I guess it wasn't specific enough. I had avoided Wikipedia since we had been brainwashed since middle school to avoid it, but I was desperate and had no other choice. Finally, I clicked the infamous wiki link and found this: "Magazines can be distributed through the mail; through sales by newsstands, bookstores, or other vendors; or through free distribution at selected pick-up locations. Sales models for distribution fall into three main categories. Paid circulation In this model, the magazine is sold to readers for a price, either on a per-issue basis or by subscription, where an annual fee or monthly price is paid and issues are sent by post to readers. Examples from the UK include Private Eye Non-paid circulation This means that there is no cover price and issues are given away, for example in street dispensers, airline in-flight magazines, or included with other products or publications. An example from the UK and Australia is TNT Magazine. Controlled circulation This is the model used by "insider magazines" or industry-based publications distributed only to qualifying readers, often for free and determined by some form of survey. This latter model was widely used before the rise of the World Wide Web and is still employed by some titles. For example, in the United Kingdom, a number of computer-industry magazines use this model, including Computer Weekly and Computing, and in finance, Waters Magazine. For the global media industry, an example would be VideoAge International." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazine#Distribution

Fashion Industry: Media and Marketing

The following is an excerpt from Encyclopaedia Britannica article called "Fashion Industry" "Media and marketing Media of all kinds are essential to the marketing of fashion. The first dedicated fashion magazines appeared in England and France in the late 18th century. In the 19th century, fashion magazines—such as the French La Mode Illustrée, the British Lady’s Realm, and the American Godey’s Lady’s Book—proliferated and flourished. Featuring articles, hand-coloured illustrations (known as fashion plates), and advertisements, fashion magazines—together with other developments such as the sewing machine, department stores, and ready-to-wear clothing produced in standard sizes—played a significant role in promoting the democratization of fashion in the modern era. The development of effective and inexpensive methods of reproducing photographs in print media in the early 20th century led to the rise of fashion photography and of heavily illustrated fashion magazines such as Vogue. Magazine advertising rapidly became a principal marketing tool for the fashion industry." http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1706624/fashion-industry/296479/Media-and-marketing

Is Print Old News? Magazines Going Digital Only on Take a Walk with Liss...