15. Social Media Powers Car

In Kansas City, Kansas, schools are getting kids involved in powering an electric car with social media using MINDDRIVE. This car is planning on driving from Kansas City to Washington, DC completely fueled by social media watts.

MINDDRIVE selected around 30 kids from schools in the Kansas City area to take charge of this project. This extracurricular activity is aimed to get at-risk kids into an after-school program that will teach them about math, science, the environment, and technology. Their  task is to rebuild a car from the ground up, make it electric, and spread the word to get this social media powered car from point A to point B.

Here is the break down of each media platform and how much influence the end total of social watts. (These are the standings as of May 24th at 6:00am)Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 6.34.01 AM

Programs like this can change kids lives. As seen in the video, it gives kids the confidence to chase dreams like college and careers. This could be the future of programs for at risk kids. By giving them hands on activities to show them they can do anything they set their mind to and break their social stereotype.

14. PBR and Hipsters… Perfect Match?

Who would’ve thought that Pabst Blue Ribbon and hipsters would go together so well?

Is it because PBR is so uncool it became cool? Once again hipsters are liking things that aren’t cool because they aren’t “mainstream.” 

Hipsters may even be driving up the prices of PBR at the bars.

You would think that the hipsters would be into craft and specialty beers, but apparently not. Craft beers must be too cool to be a part of their niche culture.

With some research I discovered that hipsters and PBR go together because of smart marketing. PBR’s Neal Stewart discovered the demographic for their product was completely different than the 40-60 year old demographic they thought they had. He discovered the hipster market in Portland and realized the best way to market to them was do nothing.

PBR publicly declined possible endorsements with Kid Rock and a few professional snowboarders. Making these endorsement declines public kept PBR cool in the eyes of the hipster because it still “wasn’t cool.”

Neal Stewart is brilliant. He did the opposite of marketing in order to market to the group that he wanted to market to. This marketing campaign saved PBR from selling itself out to Miller.

13. Kmart Wants Me To Ship My Pants

Yeah, I definitely giggled. I feel like I am 10 again laughing at this commercial.

They are also promising “Big Gas Savings.”

Kmart hasn’t been known for being edgy in the past, but this is edgy. This is Kmarts first sequence of ads to go viral. These are hilarious and make me pay attention. I don’t know where the nearest Kmart is to me, but this makes me wonder. This makes me want to give Kmart a chance.

The Kmart in my home town closed a few months ago and it didn’t phase me. If this is part of a rebrand from Kmart I may be interested. These advertisements have caught my eye and now I want another sequel.

These remind me of the Doritos commercials. I am once again on the edge of my seat to see what comes out next. I want an epic Superbowl ad. That would really put them on the advertising map. They still have a way to go to make a name for themselves with their commercials but now they have the momentum to go somewhere.

12. Gif is Not Peanut Butter

The creator of the .gif, or graphics interchange format, has finally declared an official pronunciation. It is “jif” not “gif,” like the peanut butter.

Now that it was been declared there is an uproar in opposition of the pronunciation. They even have their own hashtag, #TeamHardG. I have always pronounced it with a hard “G,’ but if the creator says it is pronounced like the peanut butter, it is pronounced like the peanut butter. The English language always has exceptions to the rules and .gifs are one of those exceptions.

The first .gif was created in 1987. But in recent history of the .gif was declared a word by the Oxford University Press.

No one likes change but for those of you who want to be stubborn you can keep calling them .gifs (with a hard “G”). The rest of us pronounce it the right way and seem like we know what we are talking about.

The .gif has taken tumblr by storm and become a common part of many journalism pieces and outlets. What would I do with out my daily does of funny tumblr accounts? WhatShouldWeCallMe wouldn’t exist with out them and my days would be a little duller.

11. Literally…

Definition of literally

How often is literally used in the wrong context? LITERALLY every day.

I admit I misuse this word on a daily basis. Literally.

Literally is what we say when we generally mean figuratively.

Everyone has their moments of misusing this word but some are worse than others. I noticed today at lunch as I sat with a group of my friends how often this word is misused.

“I was LITERALLY DYING of hunger before lunch!” exclaimed one of my friends.

If she was literally dying she should’ve called an ambulance.

Exaggerations are one thing but we use literally and actually to provide emphasis in the wrong way. I’m on a mission to cut back on my misuse of literally and find a new word to provide the emphasis for whatever situation I’m exaggerating about. Im so serious I will literally buy this.

But literally, I need to fix this problem.

10. Loads of Hope

With the recent events in Oklahoma there are so many great companies that need recognition for the assistance they have given.

Tide’s “Loads of Hope” is an amazing campaign. Not only is it a way for them to advertise their product in the community but also on TV. With the destruction that the tornadoes have brought to the residents of Oklahoma clean laundry is something that is hard to come by. There is no more laundromat down the street, there is no neighbors house to wash a quick load.

Tide brings their products, works with local laundromats, and usually even bring trucks with 32 built in washer and dryers to these devastated community and helps but clean clothes on their backs.

Growing up my family has always used Tide. Now that I live on my own I have to buy my own soap. I buy Tide to support a company that supports those who need help.

Clean clothes, fresh sheets, and that fresh clean laundry smell is not something to be taken for granted.

This campaign is genius.  I know will forever and always buy Tide because of this campaign and I am not the only one.

9. Being a Millenial

What is a “Millennial?”

What does it mean to be a “Millennial?” Here is Joel Stein’s perspective:

As a Millennial I am a bit offended. Sure, I text a lot. Sure, I am constantly on social media. Sure, the other actions in the video aren’t completely off. BUT the way this is presented as that is all we do and all we care about is offensive. I was alright until his closing lines of, “I’m sure they will never get any actual work done. So uh, good luck with our bridges and infrastructure.”

Millennials care about more than just our technology.

We grew up with this technology and have adopted it into our lives. You had this technology thrown at you half way through yours. I can’t remember not having a computer in my house. I have had a cell phone since I was 16. Internet has been a part of my life since middle school. We don’t know life with out these things therefore we do not know how to live with out them.

In my opinion TIME messed up here. Joel Stein, you just offended an entire generation that will one day be taking care of you and running the world.

Check out more about Millennials on Time’s website.

8. Intern Life

From my first journalism class to the journalism classes I’m currently taking every professor has talked about internships. They talk about the experience you can gain, the connections you can make, and the directions they can lead you in. My internship has done exactly that.

As an intern for the American Cancer Society I have learned the best and worst about event planning. From working with community volunteers, to fundraising thousands of dollars, to finding sponsors, and everything else that goes into planning these incredible overnight events. This internship has given me direction in the path I want to take with my career more than I ever expected.

When applying for this internship I thought that I would be making copies, getting coffee, and doing all the work no one else wanted to do. As my first internship I got lucky and am not the office coffee runner, I do so much more than that. I currently am the niche event coordinator. The niche events are the events that student bodies of elementary, middle, and high schools put on to raise money for their community event. I travel to community meetings and school pep rallies to work with the event coordinators.

What this opportunity has taught me is to apply for everything and not to think I am above it. Experience is experience, and that still looks good on a resume. Applying for jobs and internships gives you a chance to get them, not applying is a missed opportunity.

As the famous University of Oregon runner Steve Prefontane once said, “to give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.”

You can’t use your gift until you know what it is. The only way to figure it out is to try every experience and opportunity presented to you.

As someone who has been clueless on which path to take my internship has helped narrow down the options. It has also given me the experience and knowledge to take the unknown path.

BE AN INTERN.

Although, do not be surprised if you are sent on a coffee run.

7. Music Hipsters

With the Sasquatch Music Festival on the horizon I’ve been working on discovering bands I’ve never heard of that will be performing. I am not afraid to admit most of the bands I know are the headliners but then again I’m not a music hipster. Jimmy Kimmel sent a crew out to the Coachella Music Festival to see if they could trick people into talking about bands that don’t actually exist.

These people to me are wanna-be hipsters. Hipsters say things like, “I discovered them before they were mainstream,” or, “Don’t worry about it I know you’ve never heard of them.” They like to do things before they are cool but not once it becomes a trend. The people interviewed at Coachella are so afraid to look stupid by saying they don’t know of these bands that they go along with the interview and pretend as if they do. These people are music hipsters.

My favorite interview is the guy who says he used to spin them at his radio station in Canada. Uh huh sure you did…

To me the best part about these giant festivals is hearing new artists for the first time. I don’t need to know every artist on the line-up because thats highly unlikely.

Note to self, don’t try to lie during a TV interview. You will end up on Jimmy Fallon.

Sasquatch here I come!

(Image thanks to http://theparachutediaries.blogspot.com/)

6. New Age Advertising

With TiVo, DVR, netflix, and streaming on sites like Hulu how are commercials supposed to be effective?

Easy… Product placement.

Product placement has always been around but now it is more important than ever.

It’s been months since I have watched or payed attention to a commercial during a TV show. Movie trailers are all I ever watch when watching live TV. YouTube commercials only require you to watch 5 seconds so that 5 seconds has to be AMAZING in order to grab my attention. Hulu commericals are long enough I can switch tabs to check my Facebook and Twitter. TV commercials are either fast-forwarded through or used to get a snack from the kitchen.

Product placement is something I can’t ignore though. When watching shows such as The Biggest Loser or American Idol product placement is obvious and sometimes slightly annoying. These products though are then ingrained in my mind and I take a second look when I see them on the shelf, or consider eating there when I drive by in my car.

The more we skip commercials the more advertisers have to come up with ways to advertise to us. If you want to watch your show you will have to deal with the product placement. There is no skipping a part of the show with a product in the background.