status blogum–carpe MBA

I know I’ve been getting a bit slow with my posts here, but I’ve been busy with my grad school applications. Apparently applying to grad school takes the most work ever, but I guess that makes sense since it will be hard. I now have all the information I need and have created a schedule of events for the next two months. This schedule involves me studying at all times for the GMAT, which I just schedule for March 21. I’m getting a lot better at my practice problems, escpecially since when I started I was like, “you can’t add fractions!” However, based on that starting point, I still have a while to go to get up to my target score. I took a practice test and performed a tad bid better than average. With some studying, I hope to get my score up some so I can stand out with the super smarties who score an average of 670. These are of course the University of California, Davis (UCD) applicants, but my GPA was 2/10 higher than the average, which means I am awesome. And, my base score was higher than the lowest GMAT score they admitted last year, so I guess that’s something.

I’ve also been coordinating the various requirements of the applications. If I didn’t have a spreadsheet I wouldn’t be able to keep track of it because there are super lots of requirements. Deciphering what needs to go to which school, to where at said school, in what form (electronic or paper), and by when is proving to be challenging. UCD’s info was straight forward, but I had to realllly dig to get requirements for Sac State for some reason. I just hope I am covering all of my basis on both applications, but I am sure I will be okay. So long as I adhere to a fairly strict schedule of doing at least some review and some application task every day, I will be fine. I had to revise my schedule a bit because I was bit too ambitious at first and forgot that I am tired after work and maybe don’t want another four hours worth of activity. In any event, I’ve taken care of the bare minimum requirements and now am working on the application pieces that I write myself.

There is, of course, the matter of financial aid and the economy. I decided to go ahead with the application for an MBA program after doing decently on the GMAT practice test. I figure I should be able to get at least some federal loans. My primary school is UCD, which is almost $20,000 per year for three years. Ouch. Hopefully work would pay for some of it too, but in this economy, you never know. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I am keeping at it. I figure if I do end up getting laid off, I would rather be in school than just unemployed. So my plan is to finance it through federal loans. That’s also another reason why I applied to Sacramento State. It’s quite affordable–especially with assistance–and it may end up being the route I would take when push comes to shove.  The thing that really drew me to UCD was the fact that I can customize my entire degree after the core courses. I think that’s amazing, and it just may be worth it…but I don’t know if I want the debt when I’m still paying off undergrad (forever).

a historical p(R)esident

Alright folks, it’s time we talked about it: the branded candidate. Barack Obama single-handedly redefinded the entire communications process for a campaign: grass roots public relations, a unified branding strategy, and media roadblocking capabilities like we’ve never seen before (meaning no matter where you look and what you do, he was there in some form). It’s one thing for him to have thrown a lot of money at his campaign–which he indeed did do–but it’s another to become an actual product (so to speak). I don’t know how he is so up to date on everything, but he is. Blogs, video addresses, Web site materials, you name it he did it…what’s more is he will continue to do it. Perhaps having a younger candidate is paying off. I admit I admired his approach the entire time (marketing wise), but I love the fact that he is going to continue now that he is in office. During his inauguration (the first one), the new www.whitehouse.govlaunched. Have you ever gone there before? I am willing to bet it never got so many hits. And, it looks good. That’s the thing that really impresses me; he is not just trying new media and communication strategies to stay “in the loop,” he is communicating to the world successfully through a myriad of channels.

Now, for those of you marketers, you have to love his image. Never before has anyone been so organized and pretty. I have posted a logo series of his to the left. It’s super cute. Some may argue that it’s not “official looking” enough, but I think it’s perfect. Plus, you can pretty those up easily, and I just got them from a Web site, so they aren’t all of his logos either. Have you ever seen that for any other president. Aside from a giant “W,” is there any other logo associated with a president for branding purposes? And I’m not talking about random stars and political party colors on signs with slogans that change throughout the campaign…every election has those. Just Google the Obama brand and read up on it to see how it’s different. I think it’s fantastic. I’m looking for other comments on it as well. Let’s leave politics secondary and focus on the branding firstly. Thoughts/opinions? Like the logos and brand identity? Think it’s too much, too soon (or was at the unveiling)? Think it’s generic or not “official” enough?

B(R)ANDING: Did BP Dis”Connect”?

It’s funny when you move to another state because you find yourself missing strange things: restaurants, family, and even gas stations. While I am quite content with my Chevron out here, I do miss my Ohio BPs and especially my Sheetz. Oh how I miss Sheetz. They do have BPs out here in the form of Arco, but you must pay with either cash or a debit card (which charges a fee) and that is hell. They don’t have many nice gas station stores like Ohio does, or at least I haven’t seen them. They do have am/pm, which is Arco’s equivalent to Cleveland’s BP Connect…or at least it was. I was recently in Cleveland for the birth of our lord when I noticed that all Connects were now am/pm stores. WHAT THE?! Is this a national branding campaign or simplification of brands? What’s the story? BP has been touting its use of Amoco fuels for at least a decade, and now there was this overwhelmingly blue sign that I didn’t understand. It was all over the Cleveland stores…some additive. It made me think they were changing the gasoline. Has anyone else noticed this change? Have you been inside the stores? Is it just a brand change or what’s up? I’m pretty sure all the other stuff is the same. Thirst Oasis remains in tact for fountain soda, and the coffee is one to inquire about further. In Ohio, it’s Wild Bean; I’m not sure about here. I will say I like the fact that BP’s brand’s are recognizable and transferable across the county, but I don’t like unadvertised bait and switches. Granted I live in California now, but I expected a letter or at least a gift card.

a new look and purpose

You may have noticed a fresher look to the blog. It seems a bit generic and citrusy, but I was following in Walmart’s footsteps. I’ve decided to make this an all-out professional blog. Now, don’t go getting all in a tizzy. I’ll still use my crass analyses, but I will only be blogging about marketing and public relations items henceforth…for the most part. You see, now that I use Twitter for all of my constant personal “tweets,” I feel it’s redundant to blog about them again. You should follow me on twitter. It’s easy and hooked up to Facebook.

As far as the blog, I’ve refreshed it a bit. I’m going with more of a discussion-based approach. I ask a lot of questions in my analyses anyway, so why not actually expect you to answer them? ha! Anyway, you’ll see more B(R)ANDING skits and now I’m trying to figure out a title for my PR collection. Any suggestions?

B(R)ANDING: Wal-Mart’s clandestine asterisk

 
What ever happened to rolling back prices? Or when the happy little smiley face dressed up like a ridiculous cowboy and shot high prices dead? It appears that our little buddy, the generic smiley face, has gone by the wayside for an equally impressive replacement…the asterisk. Well that’s what it looks like at least. I hesitate to call it a logo…it’s more of a service mark really. Just as with the smiley face, you cannot see the asterisk and identify the yellow bugger as Wal-mart.  The company’s Web site calls it a star and indicates the entire name is part of the new logo (note that “Wal*Mart” became “Walmart” in the logo). At first I thought this logo was stupid, but after I looked at the history of the company’s logos, it’s the best one its had yet. I imagine we’ll all soon see that sunny asterisk and immediately want to buy discount goods from around the world, but for now it just looks like little smiley got throw at a windshield and they took the resulting mess as the new and improved look for Wal-mart. I never saw any advertising for the new logo; I just noticed it. Apparently it’s from October 2008, so it’s not super super breaking news. Usually re-branding campaigns have something to them, but I guess if you make a small change as the largest company in the world, everyone will notice. It was similar with the “Save Money. Live Better.” tagline they started using recently. It just became a part of the world. Wal-Mart is a bit sneaky. On the upside, it is more middle-class looking and cheerier. They may be on to something here. I guess I was just looking for something more with the logo…did each point in the asterisk represent a company core value or something? Nope, just a star…a battlestar. See the progression of the logo over time.

Oh, and check out this one-time prototype logo for Kmart. They kept their low-class colors though, and they still suck.