In terms of what else I have learned about Dove Go Fresh, I decided to delve into researching a little bit about its parent company, Unilever, which according Wikipedia is "an Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products." Dove has positioned itself in the US as a mid-level drugstore brand, and I am guessing that the Go Fresh brand in particular is marketed towards women ages 12-35. I am having a hard time finding any information about the branding of Go Fresh at all - while there is a plethora of information regarding the Dove "Real Beauty" campaign, there is truly nothing available on the internet about Go Fresh in terms of real market research or information about how the campaign was created and implemented. But I am searching! I plan on contacting Ogilvy for information on their involvement with Go Fresh to see if they could lead me to any particular insight without giving me biased information. I also am going to utilize the Business Library sometime next week to begin a more in depth search with some of the library research programs we learned about during orientation.
I did find out from Wikipedia that "Dove, a subsidiary of Unilever, was one of the earliest brands to engage with consumers one-on-one using email marketing technology. In the late 1990s, using the EchoMail platform, the Dove brand created a personalized conversation providing specialized advice on users' skin and how to care for it, in addition to gathering consumer data and creating an informational network." I find this to be really
interesting because it shows that Dove has a long track record of engaging with consumers on a personal level.
Switching gears, I really enjoyed today's session at TargetCast. I thought that the vibe of the work environment was very energetic, young and focused, and I think that Colette and Heather are genuinely really happy at their jobs, most in part because of the passion that they both share for media planning and buying. This work environment rubbed off on me and I liked that the employees seemed comfortable and happy in the office. I was impressed that while TargetCast is only twelve years old, they have accomplished much within their field and have managed large and notable accounts.
While I know that media planning and buying is not the route that I want to go in the communications field at the moment (I know that I want to be in PR and I have a strong passion for that sector), I found it really encouraging to see a work environment where people are both nurturing and friendly, and really care about promoting an overall sense of camaraderie within the company. I know that a workplace environment will surely be one of the deciding factors in my job search in the future, so going to all of these different companies and being able to "get a feel" is a very invaluable skill for both life in general and also career searching in the future.
Besides the good vibes, I was most intrigued by the precision in which all media planning is conducted. I found it to be very exciting that the employees of TargetCast are all very moved when speaking about how they utilize data to create the best strategy for their clients, and their self-assured, passionate attitude was very magnetic to me. I was not really surprised by any particular element in the presentation although I did not know that Google had access to my email content, so that sort of perturbed me! I did have a general basic understanding of what media planners do as one of my best friends just recently started at a media buying/planning agency called MediaVest, so there was not much of a surprise in terms of learning about the general process.
My "aha! moment" was listening to Heather talk about the non-profit account that she works on, and realizing the steep incline that non-profits or organizations without major funds face when trying to compete with other more established brands. It's a sad fact that some of the best, most helpful brands and non-profits in the world go unnoticed due to lack of funding - my hope is that through the emergence of new digital media pathways, there will one day be a solution to this problem.
While I cannot see myself working at a media buying/planning company such as TargetCast, I also never say never, because as Trudi said in our internship meeting on Tuesday, in modern times people have the potential of having 3-4 careers within them! At the moment, however, I am not interested in that field of communications and really passionately want to focus my attention on PR in either political communications or the entertainment industry. However, despite my personal interests in the field of communications, I found that the career advice given by Heather and Colette was quite influential and indispensable, and I really appreciate that they took the time to speak with us today and impart their wisdom on us!
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