Rachel Palekar - Post #2

TargetCast 

Our visit to TargetCast definitely made me a lot more excited for the rest of our off-site visits. I enjoyed the format of the meeting in a conference room, around a big table where conversation was easy to maintain and contribute to. Since I have not had previous exposure to a full service media agency, it was quite interesting to hear about what they do and how it effects the media landscape. I love how they integrate many sectors and jobs into one comprehensive agency. I also liked the dynamic between employees, especially when Steve Farella came into the room. I felt that everyone had a level of comfort with each other despite being at different levels in the company hierarchy. This is an important factor for me, as I feel it encourages collaboration and an enjoyable work environment.

“Aha!” moment: I was not expecting to be able to relate what TargetCast does to my daily life. I thought it was interesting to learn about how advertisements are targeted to various segments and about all the different outlets through which they try to reach consumers. I was not expecting to be intrigued, mainly because I did not know what to expect. However, I think I could be interested in an area related to strategy and strategic thinking. Media planning and buying was also interesting to me because it seems to be a mix of quantitative and qualitative thinking. I want to learn more about these areas in order to see if I actually am interested by them, or if my judgement is clouded by the excitement of our first company visit. My last job was heavily based on numbers, so this aspect of the job is almost comforting since it could feel familiar. I enjoyed the tour of the company grounds and appreciated that the culture seemed rather close-knit. While this might be a great place to learn a lot, (and possibly intern at), I feel that this company might be on the small end for me. I am looking forward to seeing the other businesses, and to how my feelings differ at each one.

Burt's Bees

As I am in the preliminary stages of investigation of my brand, I thought I would write about their early stages, and how they got their start. Everything began many years ago in 1984 with only two people--artist Roxanne Quimby and beekeeper Burt Shavitz. Burt had roadside honey stand and Roxanne made candles with the left over beeswax from Burt’s beehives.  The dynamic duo began selling their natural goods at local crafts fairs and started to build the ideas that led to the well-known Burt’s Bees as it is today. By 1999, Burt’s Bees went global, and by 2006 they began selling their products in drug stores such as Target. (I first fell in love with this brand after finding it at Target!).

As for their social media, I discovered that they have a channel on YouTube called burtsbeesvideos. Here is a link to the channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/burtsbeesvideos?feature=watch On here, there are 59 videos and a relatively low subscriber base of 1,239. They have many different types of videos such as tutorials on picking appropriate lip colors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, and educational short films about bees. I found this one about worker bees to be interesting and a bit comical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPzVbbzc5Aw&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL7C8D198BFA7EE573 I think it is great they Burt’s Bees not only has product tutorials on their website, but also information about how they are making strides to be a socially responsible company.

On a personal note - I have to admit that I have found both a product and aspect of Burt’s Bees that I am not crazy about. The product is an eye cream with royal jelly, and it simply fails to do anything that is promised and it also smells bad! Unexpected fail from a brand that normally does well in my opinion. Additionally, while many brands have seasonal lines that are released throughout the year to create excitement amongst customers, BBs does not do this. It would be nice if they released new natural products that were targeted towards bettering health during certain seasons. 

Pictures - Roxanne & Burt - Original Candles - Current day products

Real World Insights 

As we progress in the course, I feel more confident that I will be prepared for life after Columbia. While I know that a ton of on-the-job learning will be necessary anywhere I go, I feel like I will be up for the challenge. On another note, a change that I have been noticing among many clothing companies is the appearance of online stores. I am excited about this because many store that I like are far away and used to be inaccessible. I feel that these stores (Madewell, Aritzia, H&M), had to change in order to keep up with competitors who already offer this online capability.