This is now really embarrassing. When I was younger, for some reason my dream job was to work at Taco Bell. I am blaming my father on this one. Since my parents are separated I would go see my dad every other weekend. Yes, we would always go to Taco Bell. Of course it did not take me to college to figure out that was not my dream job. I mean I was a kid I did not know any better. I still love Taco Bell though. Now in college, I know that I want to go into advertising. Right now I am not thinking about going into a huge firm. Actually, it would be a huge opportunity if I was able to be on the Target advertising team. I know that is not setting my goals too high for my overall career, but for right now it is pretty high. I am completely happy with it!
Tagged as:
Advertising,
Advertising firms,
Career Goals,
Dream job,
Taco Bell,
Target
In reminding myself that this blog is primarily aimed at prospective students, I realized I haven’t commented on Fontbonne itself in a while, or at least not in a sense that prospective students will easily appreciate. No one really wants to hear about my senior paper, or my job hunt. So, let me throw out some thoughts about Fontbonne. Let’s see…
How about this: Fontbonne just paid for a $450 hotel room, a $100 dollar conference registration, and the gas for me to drive down to New Orleans on the weekend of October 15th for a sociology conference. Awesome? I think yes. I’ll be attending this conference with Dr. Stoelting and Lauren Sandefur, a fellow applied sociology student also graduating this December. Blah blah, presenting senior paper, blah blah, won awards there last year, blah blah. Important part: Fontbonne is paying for a trip to New Orleans. So awesome.
I should remind you that this isn’t the first time I’ve been on a paid vacation thanks to Fontbonne. My freshman year, Fontbonne sent me to IRELAND for Spring Break. All expenses paid. In other words, the most incredible trip of my life was completely free of charge thanks to Fontbonne. There was some work that earned this trip, sure, but nothing so strenuous as to overshadow how amazing(ly free) that trip was.
Honestly, there are other schools I considered besides Fontbonne. I wonder, occasionally, what my life would be like if I had attended Webster University, just down the road – I probably would’ve studied music there instead of applied sociology. I wonder what my life would be like if I had attended Syracuse University, back in upstate New York – I probably would be doing miserably, trying to be a copywriter instead of an account executive, and failing because I was so depressed due to the frigid, miserable winters. I wonder what my life would be like if I had attended the University of Texas at Austin – I’d be in a great advertising program for networking, but wouldn’t have had the chance to pursue sociology to the same level (and frankly I’m not so sure about the accounts their advertising program produces).
When I think about where I might’ve been, I realize I have zero regrets about being here. I’m happy I’m here. Fontbonne has given me so many opportunities. I’ve been to Ireland, I’ll go to New Orleans, I’ve been published, I’ve had experiences that helped me land two awesome internships, I’ve worked with some of the most incredible professors, I’ve learned some of the most useful things. I’ve discovered so much about who I am and what it means to navigate this world. That… that’s pretty cool, I’d say.
Tagged as:
Advertising,
conference,
Ireland,
New Orleans,
Sociology
When I think about my future profession, Advertising, I get caught up in thinking about the important skills that help the really successful advertisers do well. And then, I get really distracted, because I honestly can’t shake the feeling that everyone else needs these same skills.
Some people think advertising is about making pretty pictures and mini-movies to make stuff look good. This isn’t true. There’s so much more to advertising than the print ad and the commercial; there are so many clever little tactics advertisers come up with to get your attention. And even then, so much of that is garbage; if it were any good, you’d be buying so much more.
Some people think advertising is about selling product. Well, that’s sometimes true; it’s an important goal, and arguably anything else advertising might aim to do – increase brand awareness, reinforce loyalty, and so on – is done with the hopes that eventually it turns into more sales. But what makes GOOD advertising is more than just sales.
Good advertising lies in the art of storytelling. The brands, campaigns, and commercials we love tell a story that produces some kind of emotion in us. People like stories, and these stories are what makes us buy. We’re far more emotional than rational; a story, a good story, that taps into our emotions – humor, sadness, excitement – is what motivates us to interact with a brand. It’s what gets us to talk about the brand, and that’s when it really grows.
But good storytelling seems like it should be really important for any field that deals with humans (which, arguably, is just about every field since everything we do is in terms of humans as far as I know). Why do scientific fields suck at explaining things in humanistic terms? Even now when I read articles for sociology, most of them are burdensome, trying to mimic the tone of the detached scientist. Why bother? The sociology articles I end up loving, the ones that inspire me and cause me to see the world in a new way (and the ones I understand on the first read through!) are the personal narratives, because they’re told as stories.
We like stories. Storytelling is important. It’s an art, one few people poses. You’d do well to practice and master it.
Here’s a challenge for you: try telling a story on your next writing assignment instead of spitting back garble. Instead of writing something that alienates both yourself and your reader, connect on a human level by telling it as you would tell a story. Good luck.
Tagged as:
Advertising,
Sociology,
storytelling
So, it’s finally here. This is my last semester of undergraduate college, my final semester at Fontbonne. If you haven’t been keeping track of my life (your loss (just kidding (not really))), I’m graduating this December with a degree in Advertising and Applied Sociology, plus a minor in American Culture Studies. (Note to freshmen: it can be done, so pick up a second major and/or a minor early on).
I’ll get sentimental later in the semester, but not now. No, it’s far too early for that, and there’s still a ton of things to be done. This semester, I’ll be writing my senior capstone paper for Applied Sociology. So far, it’s 29 pages, and I’m only about a fourth of the way through it. I’m supposed to finish that by October 14th, when I’ll be presenting it at a conference in New Orleans (tough life, I know). Meanwhile, I’m dealing with Senior Seminar in Advertising, which is manageable but will get more intense in October. I’m also working on two other course, but they’re both pretty simple. That’s right – I’m only taking 12 hours this semester. And once the senior paper is done and the 8 week course is over, I’ll be effectively taking only 2 classes!
Sounds easy, but it’s not, really. See, I also have this whole post-graduation thing to worry about. Right now I’m looking at a list of 70 advertising agencies I want to apply to, but I’m also going to apply to Yale’s Doctorate program for sociology. I just took the GRE this weekend, so I’ll start talking about the Yale application some more in November when I get my scores.
It’s going to be a really exciting, stressful, and accomplished semester! And I have no doubt in my mind it’s going to fly by. Stay tuned, everyone.
Tagged as:
Advertising,
last semester,
seniors,
Sociology,
thesis
