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Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Creative Brand Strategy Project
References
Abrams, R. (2101)Successful Business Plan. The Planing Shop
Guigar, B., Kellett, D., Kurtz, S., & & Straub, K. (2008). How to Make Webcomics. Berkeley, California: Image Comics, Inc.
Kawasaki, G (2007, Nov 16) Creating Mantra not Mission from the (2004) Art of Start retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT7xlFTinIw
Images
Anime Wasabi http://www.animewasabi.com/
Fablevison http://www.fablevision.com/
Half Pixel http://www.haldpixel.com/
Mickey Mouse http://blog.buycostumes.com/halloween-costumes/happy-birthday-mickey-mouse/
Nan Desu Kan http://ndkdenver.org/
Penny Arcade http://www.penny-arcade.com/
Joe Camel http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/2009/07/joe-camel.html
Ronald McDonalds http://www.ifood.tv/blog/saving-kids-from-mcdonald-s-junk-food-marketing-0
Webcomics.com as a Trade Association
Professional Blog 2 BSB
For Business Storytelling and Brand Development at Full Sail University
From Prompt
“For this blog assignment, it will be necessary for you to research, review and select one professional association that you are interested in that relates to your specific industry. You will analyze the industry and discuss one or more of their major programs that influence your industry. In your analysis, you could comment on the association’s programs/services, marketing, legislative policy, research and task force or committee objectives.”
My Response:
Webcomics.com can be considered a trade association by definition, but not in a traditional sense. It does not try to call itself a trade association and avoids the extra legal steps in doing so. It does not attempt to raise funds for political reasons or hire extra staff to tackle key industry objectives. It seems run by one man, Brad Guigar, who is connected to various working web cartoonists.
Around the beginning of 2010, Brad Guigar made a case to turn the site into a paid annual subscription model with a free portal for the public: the case being wife, kids, and the ability to provide a better service. The service at $30 a year extends the conversations and tips from Half Pixel’s “How to Make Webcomics”. It also creates a social hub where creators can collaborate on individual projects. It is the closest thing to a web-comics trade association.
Guigar manages a bridge between experts like Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade to give a direct connection to novice, mid-range, and expert web cartoonists. The discourse around marketing and productivity is invaluable.
How to use the site for extending your network?
Easy answer, just post on the forums. Don’t post BS attempts to get attention. Either answer someone’s question or respond to someone’s comment. Try and reach out to other creators working on similar projects and see if they want to team up to finish a project. Networking with other creators is so easy if a person is polite and are going through the same creative endeavors with artists at conferences and at webcomics.com.
However, finding fans and making a living purely on creative endeavors is still the tuff part. Webcomics.com just gives you all the tools to make web-comics. Recently, the tech questions and development of new media has been the focus of web-cartoonist and can cause the medium to change.
Webcomics.com is Part of an Industry Change Agent
With other related Half Pixel Projects such as Webcomics Weekly and the success of each member in the content driven industry, webcomics.com creates industry trends and standards. For example, “Project Wonderful”, a similar service to Google AdSense, is a industry staple for web-comics because it was mentioned many times on web-comics weekly and on Webcomics.com. Currently, the service is shaping the conversation about how tech affects the content driven markets related to web-comics.
This service could lead to a trade association because I believe it has the ability to create committees, awards, and political movements related to protecting the freedom for independent creators to post their content on the web. However, that would mean a completely different service and headache for Guigar to deal with. If something like “Net Neutrality” started to affect the webcomics.com community, I believe it would become a political trade association overnight.
Anyone up for the challenge?
For Business Storytelling and Brand Development at Full Sail University
From Prompt
“For this blog assignment, it will be necessary for you to research, review and select one professional association that you are interested in that relates to your specific industry. You will analyze the industry and discuss one or more of their major programs that influence your industry. In your analysis, you could comment on the association’s programs/services, marketing, legislative policy, research and task force or committee objectives.”
My Response:
Webcomics.com can be considered a trade association by definition, but not in a traditional sense. It does not try to call itself a trade association and avoids the extra legal steps in doing so. It does not attempt to raise funds for political reasons or hire extra staff to tackle key industry objectives. It seems run by one man, Brad Guigar, who is connected to various working web cartoonists.
Around the beginning of 2010, Brad Guigar made a case to turn the site into a paid annual subscription model with a free portal for the public: the case being wife, kids, and the ability to provide a better service. The service at $30 a year extends the conversations and tips from Half Pixel’s “How to Make Webcomics”. It also creates a social hub where creators can collaborate on individual projects. It is the closest thing to a web-comics trade association.
Guigar manages a bridge between experts like Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade to give a direct connection to novice, mid-range, and expert web cartoonists. The discourse around marketing and productivity is invaluable.
How to use the site for extending your network?
Easy answer, just post on the forums. Don’t post BS attempts to get attention. Either answer someone’s question or respond to someone’s comment. Try and reach out to other creators working on similar projects and see if they want to team up to finish a project. Networking with other creators is so easy if a person is polite and are going through the same creative endeavors with artists at conferences and at webcomics.com.
However, finding fans and making a living purely on creative endeavors is still the tuff part. Webcomics.com just gives you all the tools to make web-comics. Recently, the tech questions and development of new media has been the focus of web-cartoonist and can cause the medium to change.
Webcomics.com is Part of an Industry Change Agent
With other related Half Pixel Projects such as Webcomics Weekly and the success of each member in the content driven industry, webcomics.com creates industry trends and standards. For example, “Project Wonderful”, a similar service to Google AdSense, is a industry staple for web-comics because it was mentioned many times on web-comics weekly and on Webcomics.com. Currently, the service is shaping the conversation about how tech affects the content driven markets related to web-comics.
This service could lead to a trade association because I believe it has the ability to create committees, awards, and political movements related to protecting the freedom for independent creators to post their content on the web. However, that would mean a completely different service and headache for Guigar to deal with. If something like “Net Neutrality” started to affect the webcomics.com community, I believe it would become a political trade association overnight.
Anyone up for the challenge?
Kids and Diet Choice
Professional Blog 1 BSB
For Business Storytelling and Brand Development at Full Sail University
“Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead from the food that they eat.” _Jamie Oliver_TED2010 Prize Winner
For my Full Sail Blog Assignment
I choose the TED presentation “Teach every child about food” because I loved reading Fast Food Nation and watching the documentary Super Size Me. As I was eating my McRib, Chicken McNuggets, and drinking filtered water, I watched his TED presentation three times. I love when Oliver tells the mom from his video that she is killing her kids. I mean the rhetoric strategy he uses with the phrase “Killing you Kids” is brilliant, shocking, and very satiric.
Nonetheless, the seriousness of the diet and exercise issues in the USA are interesting and financially fascinating. Oliver's message is clear: The problem when it comes to diet and exercises is that the message has been geared to adults and not kids. For example, Veggie Tales is more focused on different moral messages from the Christen Bible, then the dietary practices from the Bible (Veggie Tales and Bible Diet).
Taking in consideration Kawasaki (2007) advice that a company must have a purpose before it can make profit, Oliver is making a career out of informing us we are killing ourselves and our children with dietary ignorance. His mission is noble and profitable. Of course, when considering edutainment video games and Oliver’s message, the opportunity to develop games that are edutainment and bring dietary awareness to kids also seems like a noble and profitable endeavor.
The problem in regards to Video Games…
Trying to figure out children’s edutainment in general begs to categorical questions: Do children find it fun? Do children learn something? The first question is something that has been answered by franchises such as Organ Trial and Where in The World is Carmen San-Diego. These titles for years have been repackaged and placed on video game shelves. The content of these games is static and limits the range of current topics that may need to be explored (Owens 2009).
One current topic I’ve been interested in exploring is health and food. Saporito (2009) did an intresting review where he looked at many games that involved food. In this interesting case study, he finds that few games actually teach kids how to eat healthy or prepare food. Cooking Mama a very successful franchise on Nintendo DS and on the internet does nothing to truly teach about health, food, or even cooking. Cooking Mama arguably is the most enthralling food game by it’s success, but can not be considered Edutainment because it does not attempt to teach anything about food.
The Solution…
If Oliver has stirred his healthy ideas for people with his show, video games are another medium that can push his message. If games can teach kids to be dietary healthy, then the game should borrow elements from Japanese gaming. Involve a crazy plot, insert real food choices, and feed the children real information about eating and cooking. Imagine instead of trying to find the next “poke’mon”, it’s regional plant to help a chief achieve the next level of culinary mastery. The big mistake based on Saporito observation is either the game takes itself to seriously or not seriously at all.
References
Kawasaki, G (2007, Nov 16) Creating Mantra not Mission from the (2004) Art of Start retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT7xlFTinIw
Owens, T (2009) A Walk Down Edutainment Lane: Or, What Target Taught Me About Serious Gameshttp://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/a-walk-down-edutainment-lane
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/information/cooking-games-edutainment-vs-entertainment/
Saporito, J. (2009, April, 08) Cooking Games: Edutainment Vs. Entertainment
Retrieved from http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/information/cooking-games-edutainment-vs-entertainment/
“Bible Diet” http://www.planetpace.com/
“Veggie Tale” https://bigidea.com/index.aspx
For Business Storytelling and Brand Development at Full Sail University
“Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead from the food that they eat.” _Jamie Oliver_TED2010 Prize Winner
For my Full Sail Blog Assignment
I choose the TED presentation “Teach every child about food” because I loved reading Fast Food Nation and watching the documentary Super Size Me. As I was eating my McRib, Chicken McNuggets, and drinking filtered water, I watched his TED presentation three times. I love when Oliver tells the mom from his video that she is killing her kids. I mean the rhetoric strategy he uses with the phrase “Killing you Kids” is brilliant, shocking, and very satiric.
Nonetheless, the seriousness of the diet and exercise issues in the USA are interesting and financially fascinating. Oliver's message is clear: The problem when it comes to diet and exercises is that the message has been geared to adults and not kids. For example, Veggie Tales is more focused on different moral messages from the Christen Bible, then the dietary practices from the Bible (Veggie Tales and Bible Diet).
Taking in consideration Kawasaki (2007) advice that a company must have a purpose before it can make profit, Oliver is making a career out of informing us we are killing ourselves and our children with dietary ignorance. His mission is noble and profitable. Of course, when considering edutainment video games and Oliver’s message, the opportunity to develop games that are edutainment and bring dietary awareness to kids also seems like a noble and profitable endeavor.
The problem in regards to Video Games…
Trying to figure out children’s edutainment in general begs to categorical questions: Do children find it fun? Do children learn something? The first question is something that has been answered by franchises such as Organ Trial and Where in The World is Carmen San-Diego. These titles for years have been repackaged and placed on video game shelves. The content of these games is static and limits the range of current topics that may need to be explored (Owens 2009).
One current topic I’ve been interested in exploring is health and food. Saporito (2009) did an intresting review where he looked at many games that involved food. In this interesting case study, he finds that few games actually teach kids how to eat healthy or prepare food. Cooking Mama a very successful franchise on Nintendo DS and on the internet does nothing to truly teach about health, food, or even cooking. Cooking Mama arguably is the most enthralling food game by it’s success, but can not be considered Edutainment because it does not attempt to teach anything about food.
The Solution…
If Oliver has stirred his healthy ideas for people with his show, video games are another medium that can push his message. If games can teach kids to be dietary healthy, then the game should borrow elements from Japanese gaming. Involve a crazy plot, insert real food choices, and feed the children real information about eating and cooking. Imagine instead of trying to find the next “poke’mon”, it’s regional plant to help a chief achieve the next level of culinary mastery. The big mistake based on Saporito observation is either the game takes itself to seriously or not seriously at all.
References
Kawasaki, G (2007, Nov 16) Creating Mantra not Mission from the (2004) Art of Start retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT7xlFTinIw
Owens, T (2009) A Walk Down Edutainment Lane: Or, What Target Taught Me About Serious Gameshttp://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/a-walk-down-edutainment-lane
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/information/cooking-games-edutainment-vs-entertainment/
Saporito, J. (2009, April, 08) Cooking Games: Edutainment Vs. Entertainment
Retrieved from http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/information/cooking-games-edutainment-vs-entertainment/
“Bible Diet” http://www.planetpace.com/
“Veggie Tale” https://bigidea.com/index.aspx
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
My Full Sail Discussion Board for 12082010
The blog I decided to cover from Ries is “How Left-Brain Management got us into this Recession”. The article is interesting because it explains five concepts that businesses did not adhered to that caused issues with their branding and led to poor sales.
1. Management is focused on reality, when the real problem is perception.
2. Management is focused on expansion when the real opportunity is contraction.
3. Management demands "better" products when the real opportunity is "different" products.
4. Management expects rapid growth when the real opportunity lies in the opposite direction.
5. Management values "creativity" when the real opportunity lies in "credentials."
After reading the blog, I wanted to take a look at Mascots and how they adhere to these five concepts in relation to Law 8 The law of the category . We should also consider the mascot as part of our branding. A Mascot can be anything related to a cartoon or a rapper. Mascots, but logos silently speak for our brand. For example, GEICO’s Gecko speaks on behalf of the company better than their logo itself.
Law 8 The law of the category a leading brand should promote the product or service category, not the brand
Disney helped create the category Family Entertainment with the lunched of cartoons such as Mickey Mouse. As the Reis (2002) suggests McDonalds entering this category was beneficial commercially for McDonalds at the same time helped developed the category as part of US and eventual Global culture (Schlosser,2002).
However, Disney comparatively started to lose its ability to make smart decisions because it’s leaders didn’t know wither to pursue new types of products and service or develop products and services that reflected it’s past successes. Mickey Mouse for example represents the times that founder Walt Disney took his brand to a new national level (History of Disney). Walt designed a mascot to represent his company that took elements from the current culture and market trends. The animated shorts that Mickey Mouse stared in
Although Mickey’s character design had changed throughout the years to reflect popular trends, Mickey started to loose it’s simple lovable roots. New forms of Family Entertainment from companies such as Pixar, developed new modern characters that represented a new category of family film, Digital Animation. A new question now faced Mickey could he contend in the category of modern digital entertainment?
1. Management is focused on reality, when the real problem is perception.
It seems that Disney’s leader’s considered that Mickey by himself was not sellable because the reality is the Mickey Mouse Franchise may not be something that the general public would buy. If this was the case, the problem was not the public but the public perception. This would mean that Mickey had to be repackaged; in turn, Disney would have to rebrand itself because Mickey represented so much of the Disney’s brand.
3. Management demands "better" products when the real opportunity is "different" products.
Mickey Mouse would venture into Japanese Video games with Square Enix called Kingdom Hearts. The game did more for Disney because it showed that Disney’s worlds and History could be made interesting for Video gamers. Of course Mickey Mouse had been in video game before, but with the imposed corporate ideas on developers, no one real had the creative freedom to rebrand Mickey for Digital Entrainment.
Rebranding Mickey Mouse to be Epic. Epic Mickey is now attempt to make a new Disney product that represents their ability to adapt the old for today’s markets. It’s based on the success of Kingdom Heart observably because it has element from Kingdom Hearts, so it’s safe to assume they want to keep that market from Kingdom Hearts.
Disney is attempting to rebrand again. Epic Mickey represents the Disney Brand trying to sell Mickey Mouse in today’s market. However, Mickey Mouse may not be more than a mascot. Because when Christmas comes, the sales of Epic Mickey will demonstrate if Disney can successfully rebrand itself in the market place.
What we can learn from this is how a brand represents the time it comes from?
How mascots represent the company’s brand, and its history?
How issues in effective decision making affect a company’s ability to effectively represent its brand and products?
Ries, Luara (2009, March 6) How Left-Brain Management got us into this Recession
Retrieved from http://ries.typepad.com/ries_blog/2009/03/how-leftbrain-management-got-us-into-this-recession.html
Ries, Al., and Laura Ries. The 22 immutable laws of branding: how to build a product or service into a world-class brand. 1. ed. New York: Harperbusiness, 2002. Print.
1. Management is focused on reality, when the real problem is perception.
2. Management is focused on expansion when the real opportunity is contraction.
3. Management demands "better" products when the real opportunity is "different" products.
4. Management expects rapid growth when the real opportunity lies in the opposite direction.
5. Management values "creativity" when the real opportunity lies in "credentials."
After reading the blog, I wanted to take a look at Mascots and how they adhere to these five concepts in relation to Law 8 The law of the category . We should also consider the mascot as part of our branding. A Mascot can be anything related to a cartoon or a rapper. Mascots, but logos silently speak for our brand. For example, GEICO’s Gecko speaks on behalf of the company better than their logo itself.
Law 8 The law of the category a leading brand should promote the product or service category, not the brand
Disney helped create the category Family Entertainment with the lunched of cartoons such as Mickey Mouse. As the Reis (2002) suggests McDonalds entering this category was beneficial commercially for McDonalds at the same time helped developed the category as part of US and eventual Global culture (Schlosser,2002).
However, Disney comparatively started to lose its ability to make smart decisions because it’s leaders didn’t know wither to pursue new types of products and service or develop products and services that reflected it’s past successes. Mickey Mouse for example represents the times that founder Walt Disney took his brand to a new national level (History of Disney). Walt designed a mascot to represent his company that took elements from the current culture and market trends. The animated shorts that Mickey Mouse stared in
Although Mickey’s character design had changed throughout the years to reflect popular trends, Mickey started to loose it’s simple lovable roots. New forms of Family Entertainment from companies such as Pixar, developed new modern characters that represented a new category of family film, Digital Animation. A new question now faced Mickey could he contend in the category of modern digital entertainment?
1. Management is focused on reality, when the real problem is perception.
It seems that Disney’s leader’s considered that Mickey by himself was not sellable because the reality is the Mickey Mouse Franchise may not be something that the general public would buy. If this was the case, the problem was not the public but the public perception. This would mean that Mickey had to be repackaged; in turn, Disney would have to rebrand itself because Mickey represented so much of the Disney’s brand.
3. Management demands "better" products when the real opportunity is "different" products.
Mickey Mouse would venture into Japanese Video games with Square Enix called Kingdom Hearts. The game did more for Disney because it showed that Disney’s worlds and History could be made interesting for Video gamers. Of course Mickey Mouse had been in video game before, but with the imposed corporate ideas on developers, no one real had the creative freedom to rebrand Mickey for Digital Entrainment.
Rebranding Mickey Mouse to be Epic. Epic Mickey is now attempt to make a new Disney product that represents their ability to adapt the old for today’s markets. It’s based on the success of Kingdom Heart observably because it has element from Kingdom Hearts, so it’s safe to assume they want to keep that market from Kingdom Hearts.
Disney is attempting to rebrand again. Epic Mickey represents the Disney Brand trying to sell Mickey Mouse in today’s market. However, Mickey Mouse may not be more than a mascot. Because when Christmas comes, the sales of Epic Mickey will demonstrate if Disney can successfully rebrand itself in the market place.
What we can learn from this is how a brand represents the time it comes from?
How mascots represent the company’s brand, and its history?
How issues in effective decision making affect a company’s ability to effectively represent its brand and products?
Ries, Luara (2009, March 6) How Left-Brain Management got us into this Recession
Retrieved from http://ries.typepad.com/ries_blog/2009/03/how-leftbrain-management-got-us-into-this-recession.html
Ries, Al., and Laura Ries. The 22 immutable laws of branding: how to build a product or service into a world-class brand. 1. ed. New York: Harperbusiness, 2002. Print.
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Story of NeoGlow in Five Minutes
References:
Rhonda, A (2010) Successful Business Plan: Secretes and Strategies. The Planningshop
Educational Consultants (2010, Nov 2010) Retrieved from http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/job-JDC2N64JZOF-l-Denver-CO-c-Education_Training?source=CP&rmpixel=
Guigar, B., Kellett, D., Kurtz, S., & & Straub, K. (2008). How to make webcomics. Berkeley, California: Image Comics, Inc.
Guigar, B., Kellett, D., Kurtz, S., & & Straub, K. (2010, Apr. 20). Webcomics Weekly 68 - It Was In The Paper Retived from: http://209.197.7.108:80/g4a2v5g3/cds/ww/Webcomics_Weekly_68_-_It_Was_In_The_Paper.mp3?dopvhost=legacy-content.libsyn.com&doppl=1886a501547344665423446685e643b0&dopsig=dfd02594a085f1a6de60c041c8d2a8dc
Another round of Kris, Brad, Dave and Scott! Web comics Weekly Podcast
Goodman, B and Dretzin, R (Dirs) (2003) The Persuaders PBS Films Retrieved From http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/
Khoo, R. (2010, January 14). Robert Khoo: Webcomics, the model. Retrieved June 19, 2010, from webcomics.com (private log-in): http://www.webcomics.com/home/2010/1/14/robert-khoo-webcomics-the-model.html
McEntegart , J. (2010, Jan 20) One Third of 11-Year-Olds Have Cell Phones Tom's Guide U Retrieved From http://www.tomsguide.com/us/U.S.-Cell-Phones-Children-Kids,news-5603.html
Pew (2009, Aug 19) Teen and Mobile Phones Data Memo Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/14--Teens-and-Mobile-Phones-Data-Memo.aspx
McCloud, S (2000) Reinventing Comics Harper Paperbacks
Stacey, E. Blachford. L, and Cengage, L. (2010, 29 Nov) Action Figure How Products are Made eNotes.com. Retrived from
Reynolds P.H., (2010, May 2 ) NETA 2010 Stories That Matter, Stories That Move-Reynolds Podcast retrieved from http://www.netasite.org/podcast/wp-content/uploads/2010/NETA2010-03-PREYNKEY-042910.mp3
Image Cites from 1st Parties
http://www.nick.com/
http://disney.go.com/index
http://pbskids.org/
http://www.fablevision.com/
http://www.comic-con.org/
Image Cites from 3rd Parties
Campfire_
http://www.stocksensation.com/Camp-Fire-0001045.php
Con Crowd
http://www.dvdtalk.com/cineschlock/archives/2005/07/schlockcast_com.html
Ipod Image
http://trekmovie.com/2010/01/27/steve-jobs-uses-star-trek-to-intro-padd-ipad/
Magic School Bus
http://ochemonline.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/take-chances-make-mistakes-get-messy/
Star Trek Image
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/14/204145/261/travel/It%27s+Not+Too+Late+To+Get+Tickets+To+Next+Week%27s+Comic-Con
Thursday, November 25, 2010
FULL SAIL Dicussion Post_ Market Analysis
The major entertainment brand I chose was the Penny Arcade Network because they incorporate a mix-model revenue stream and represents a large part of the videogame market. Also, the company started as a small independent web-comic and grew into one of the largest of its type (as seen below).
Sadly, when you see the demographics for the site, white males ages 18-34, most without kids, who make 30,000 to 100,000, dominate this market place. This proves a lot of stereotypes about gamers and reinforces the reason why shooters make more money on console gaming (i.e. white guys like shooting stuff). I find this shocking because many gamers I play with have been female and non-white on Xbox live. Female and non-white statics are in the minority. As far as education, it’s about half and half with those who have a college education.
Most users view the site from home. Other demographic habits seems to be looking at similar video games sites such as 1up.com, Gametrailers, GameStop, Game FaQs, which I may add are sites I visit and have mentions or advertisements on the Penny Arcade website from time to time. Interesting enough the teen-sites affiliated to the data have also had mentions or advertisements on Penny Arcade’s website such as Gaiaonline.com and Imvu.com. Techknology sites such Gizmodo and CNET.com also had fair mention at least; note, I never saw advertisements for the information sites. Bottom line, it seems that if a web-service advertises or are mentioned on Penny Arcade and do something related to interests of the community, a service can gain followers for their website.
The media vehicles used by this particular audience would be websites, events, and videogame consoles. Keep in mind Xbox Live, and the Playstation Network have similar digital services like a computer and even extra things particular to those services such as downloadable exclusive content. More people I know would rather watch streaming video on Netflix on their Xbox, than the actual TV show on Televsion. Not to mention that new cell phones interface with Penny Arcade’s web service. Also note, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which is held in multiple locations and is a major part of the Penny Arcade’s success, drives the idea that public appearances in the digital age are just as important as virtual appearances. Thus, I contend this demographic is hungry for public events driven by home media experiences.
Sadly, when you see the demographics for the site, white males ages 18-34, most without kids, who make 30,000 to 100,000, dominate this market place. This proves a lot of stereotypes about gamers and reinforces the reason why shooters make more money on console gaming (i.e. white guys like shooting stuff). I find this shocking because many gamers I play with have been female and non-white on Xbox live. Female and non-white statics are in the minority. As far as education, it’s about half and half with those who have a college education.
Most users view the site from home. Other demographic habits seems to be looking at similar video games sites such as 1up.com, Gametrailers, GameStop, Game FaQs, which I may add are sites I visit and have mentions or advertisements on the Penny Arcade website from time to time. Interesting enough the teen-sites affiliated to the data have also had mentions or advertisements on Penny Arcade’s website such as Gaiaonline.com and Imvu.com. Techknology sites such Gizmodo and CNET.com also had fair mention at least; note, I never saw advertisements for the information sites. Bottom line, it seems that if a web-service advertises or are mentioned on Penny Arcade and do something related to interests of the community, a service can gain followers for their website.
The media vehicles used by this particular audience would be websites, events, and videogame consoles. Keep in mind Xbox Live, and the Playstation Network have similar digital services like a computer and even extra things particular to those services such as downloadable exclusive content. More people I know would rather watch streaming video on Netflix on their Xbox, than the actual TV show on Televsion. Not to mention that new cell phones interface with Penny Arcade’s web service. Also note, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which is held in multiple locations and is a major part of the Penny Arcade’s success, drives the idea that public appearances in the digital age are just as important as virtual appearances. Thus, I contend this demographic is hungry for public events driven by home media experiences.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
RE: Mark Cuban on Attack of the Show
Re: Marketing in the Current Internet Market
*The Good:
Cuban’s states that people over 30 are not that important to media trends as younger undefined media users because the older the user the less time they have to learn new applications and devices. The good news related to education project I want to launch is that most users are kids or teens which is well below Cuban’s given age range.
*The Bad:
Web-based internet camping in regards to Cuban’s interview means that the major corporations have kept their competitive edge over small start-up content creators because of their media budgets. For example, there are too many independent musicians trying to get new consumers’ attentions and fail often because consumers have no real way to find one practical new musician from the millions of other new musicians. Cuban explains that today, YouTube is harder to really draw a content fan base because there are just too many content producers.
Considering Cuban’s comments, presenting any new content runs into the problem of how does my content gain a consumer’s attention. Of course, this has been a classic marketing 101 problem. However, what is interesting though, is that large companies still have huge advantages in attracting new consumers. Meaning, both the fear of corporate stakeholders and the dream of small independent producers, seems not to exist.
*Question to Consider
In considering how to market my education project using the Internet, the new concern is how to be effective given the control the major media companies have on the Internet.
Re: Execution in the Current Internet Market
Two things to consider from Cubans remarks; the Internet is not the future of media and new media technologies. The Internet has become established as a daily device like TV. In other words, new programs and devices may emerge, but something like the next social network is irrelevant. Also, older media models such as TV and Movies, we’ll probably be around for a very long time because they are part of the culture.
*The Good_
A web comic and animated series considering Cuban’s remarks means that the project I’m pursing will still be commercially viable in years to come.
*The Bad_
Major corporations may establish strong media footholds that prevent the successful marketing of the project or force a buy out in order to grant successful media distribution of my project to consumers.
*Question to Consider
Does an education project have certain protections from large imposing corporate forces on the Internet?
SWOT Analysis
References
Associated Press (2010, Oct 24) Poll: Weak economic growth expected through 2011. The Colorado Springs Business Journal. Retrieved from
http://csbj.com/2010/10/12/poll-weak-economic-growth-expected-through-2011/
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (2010) COLORADO EMPLOYMENT SITUATION September 2010 Retrieved from http://www.coworkforce.com/lmi/ali/currentpr.htm
Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (2010) Colorado Rankings. Retrieved from http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1165816342139&pagename=OEDIT%2FOEDITLayout
Hypolite, D. (2010). [Images Related to IGO]. Images Realted to Igo. http://neoglowentertainment.deviantart.com/
Just Jobs (2010) Colorado leads nation in solar energy jobs growth Retrieved from
http://justjobs.com/employmentnews/colorado-leads-nation-in-solar-energy-jobs-growth/
Metro Denver (2010) 2010 Economic Forecast for Metro Denver Retrieved from http://www.metrodenver.org/metro-denver-economy/forecasts
Thredgold, J. (2010, Apr 2010) Vectra Bank Colorado Small Business Index for Colorado April 2010 Release https://www.vectrabank.com/proactive-bank/initiate/Banking-Small-Business/small-business-apr.jsp
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010). [Graph illustration the Unemployment Rate of Colorado September 2010]. Population Survey. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&idim=state:ST080000&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate+colorado
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Thoughts on Team Management
11072010 Blog
For this Full Sail Sunday Blog, I’m reflecting on my three years as a teacher of adults and my recent endeavors to develop a creative team. In my class there is something the students and the teacher have to do and maybe find something enjoyable out of the experience, but on a project there is something that drives what the team wants to do, but encounters things the team needs to do. In other words, an effective teacher must inspire students to learn, but a project manager must inspire the team to do.
Note worthy from Chapter 4 of Project Management, the certainty that managers would like versus the real uncertainties of the life of the project creates extra stress. A teammate’s worth may change over the course of the project based on the needs of the project and the basics of human psychology. As far as being a teacher, one has to upkeep their craft by actually reflecting and developing their teaching skills. For team-based projects, a teammate must reflect and evolve as the project changes over time. This is very important to consider when looking at the political climate of the stakeholders, and the project changes that may have to occur that conflict with individual teammates' politics and desires.
Why is a team important within your industry?
One person cannot do everything when it comes to making quick realistic deadlines. A team with each member individual role defined creates a group that can produce much faster than just an individual. For example, if having key frame animator and in-between animator makes the animation process faster than just having one person due both jobs.
How would you go about putting your team together?
I recruit by the following: Shared goal, Skill, Deadline Driven, Communication, and Trust. If the team comprises of individuals I want to work with everything goes fine, but sometimes-random elements makes the team unstable.
How would you communicate with them?
I prefer Phone calls, Texts, and Emails, but am interested in learning or using new commutation media. Consider the importance of having two types messages, group and personal communication. Twitter for example has a lot of business potential. Imagine creating an account that uses Twitter where only your team can see specific project information in real time. Facebook recently released a better version of their group’s service.
Legal Note: The class is using Gary R Heerkens’ book Project Management Copyright 2010 McGra-Hill. The following notes and charts fall under Fair-Use for educational reasons and no direct profits were from material discussed. There is Added comment Comments from Zon Petilla. Most material was “paraphrased” by Zon Petilla.
For this Full Sail Sunday Blog, I’m reflecting on my three years as a teacher of adults and my recent endeavors to develop a creative team. In my class there is something the students and the teacher have to do and maybe find something enjoyable out of the experience, but on a project there is something that drives what the team wants to do, but encounters things the team needs to do. In other words, an effective teacher must inspire students to learn, but a project manager must inspire the team to do.
Note worthy from Chapter 4 of Project Management, the certainty that managers would like versus the real uncertainties of the life of the project creates extra stress. A teammate’s worth may change over the course of the project based on the needs of the project and the basics of human psychology. As far as being a teacher, one has to upkeep their craft by actually reflecting and developing their teaching skills. For team-based projects, a teammate must reflect and evolve as the project changes over time. This is very important to consider when looking at the political climate of the stakeholders, and the project changes that may have to occur that conflict with individual teammates' politics and desires.
Why is a team important within your industry?
One person cannot do everything when it comes to making quick realistic deadlines. A team with each member individual role defined creates a group that can produce much faster than just an individual. For example, if having key frame animator and in-between animator makes the animation process faster than just having one person due both jobs.
How would you go about putting your team together?
I recruit by the following: Shared goal, Skill, Deadline Driven, Communication, and Trust. If the team comprises of individuals I want to work with everything goes fine, but sometimes-random elements makes the team unstable.
How would you communicate with them?
I prefer Phone calls, Texts, and Emails, but am interested in learning or using new commutation media. Consider the importance of having two types messages, group and personal communication. Twitter for example has a lot of business potential. Imagine creating an account that uses Twitter where only your team can see specific project information in real time. Facebook recently released a better version of their group’s service.
Legal Note: The class is using Gary R Heerkens’ book Project Management Copyright 2010 McGra-Hill. The following notes and charts fall under Fair-Use for educational reasons and no direct profits were from material discussed. There is Added comment Comments from Zon Petilla. Most material was “paraphrased” by Zon Petilla.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
This Sunday Blog is About Developing a Team…
Related to my Full Sail class Executive Team Management.
Legal Note: The class is using Gary R Heerkens’ book Project Management Copyright 2010 McGra-Hill. The following notes and charts fall under Fair-Use for educational reasons and no direct profits were from material discussed. There is Added comment Comments from Zon Petilla. Most material was “paraphrased” by Zon Petilla.
Chapter 2 Highlights_
Relates to defining a need, a solution, a plan, and a budget for a project plan. Analyzing how successful the plan was after the project (p.28).
Chapter 3 Highlights_
Responsibilities to your Role_ (p31)
• The Project
• The Organization
• The Team
• The Project Manager
Have realistic targets (p33)
• Refer to Chapter 8
Perpetual Emphasis on Function (p34)
• People often over focus on their function rather then the project.
• The focus on their function may hinder a new project.
• People may band to a work group rather then the real needs of the client
• Function may affect decision process when between the project and departments (p36).
• Function conflicts between new project and other departments in larger organizations.
Skill Requirements of the Project Manager (p36)
1. Project management process skills
2. Interpersonal and Behavioral Skills: Communication, Counseling, and team member development skills.
3. Technology Management Skills
Also relates to Required Legal Knowledge
4. Desired Personal Traits
Cognitive and Psychological Habits needed to be successful.
Misc Skill Sets
Social Network Leverages (p44)
Benefits to Soft Side Approaches (i.e. Friendliness as Professionalism to All) (p46)
Chapter 5 Highlights_
Define the Project and the roles, but allow for flexibility (p79)
Consider expenses of involvement Vs. anticipated contribution (p79) Meaning, “Work for free” Vs. work for a “direct wage”. Often members in beginning projects may have to work for free or contribute skills off hours to develop a new project before getting a paid job or role.
Develop a list of things needed from each team member before you start the screening process (p82)
Develop a clear map of the decision hierarchy to help the decision process (p83)
• Relates to the small and larger group infrastructure
Develop the answers to predicted common questions team members may have (p84)
• “What’s in it for me” Questions
• Psychological Questions
• Performance Questions
• Communication Questions
• Team description questions
Understand how to council are reinforce a positive and clear team member psychology (p85)
• Review proposal project objectives
• Create Friendly Leadership environment
• Define Behavioral Norms for Communication, Change, and Completion
• Project Logistics
• Give Praise and Remind them why they are on the team
• Give constructive function feedback
Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing (p86)
• Note: Fifth stage: “Mourning”. After the project is done project leadership roles and goals have to change.
Encourage Team Meetings (P 91)
Reward the Team as a whole (p 92)
Establish Mutual Expectations (P 93)
Not all team mate are created equal (P 95)
• Be prepared to treat others by different factors
• Be prepared to explain to others why different people are being treated defiantly.
• Be prepared to explain to an individual why they are being treated differently.
Legal Note: The class is using Gary R Heerkens’ book Project Management Copyright 2010 McGra-Hill. The following notes and charts fall under Fair-Use for educational reasons and no direct profits were from material discussed. There is Added comment Comments from Zon Petilla. Most material was “paraphrased” by Zon Petilla.
Chapter 2 Highlights_
Relates to defining a need, a solution, a plan, and a budget for a project plan. Analyzing how successful the plan was after the project (p.28).
Chapter 3 Highlights_
Responsibilities to your Role_ (p31)
• The Project
• The Organization
• The Team
• The Project Manager
Have realistic targets (p33)
• Refer to Chapter 8
Perpetual Emphasis on Function (p34)
• People often over focus on their function rather then the project.
• The focus on their function may hinder a new project.
• People may band to a work group rather then the real needs of the client
• Function may affect decision process when between the project and departments (p36).
• Function conflicts between new project and other departments in larger organizations.
Skill Requirements of the Project Manager (p36)
1. Project management process skills
2. Interpersonal and Behavioral Skills: Communication, Counseling, and team member development skills.
3. Technology Management Skills
Also relates to Required Legal Knowledge
4. Desired Personal Traits
Cognitive and Psychological Habits needed to be successful.
Misc Skill Sets
Social Network Leverages (p44)
Benefits to Soft Side Approaches (i.e. Friendliness as Professionalism to All) (p46)
Chapter 5 Highlights_
Define the Project and the roles, but allow for flexibility (p79)
Consider expenses of involvement Vs. anticipated contribution (p79) Meaning, “Work for free” Vs. work for a “direct wage”. Often members in beginning projects may have to work for free or contribute skills off hours to develop a new project before getting a paid job or role.
Develop a list of things needed from each team member before you start the screening process (p82)
Develop a clear map of the decision hierarchy to help the decision process (p83)
• Relates to the small and larger group infrastructure
Develop the answers to predicted common questions team members may have (p84)
• “What’s in it for me” Questions
• Psychological Questions
• Performance Questions
• Communication Questions
• Team description questions
Understand how to council are reinforce a positive and clear team member psychology (p85)
• Review proposal project objectives
• Create Friendly Leadership environment
• Define Behavioral Norms for Communication, Change, and Completion
• Project Logistics
• Give Praise and Remind them why they are on the team
• Give constructive function feedback
Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing (p86)
• Note: Fifth stage: “Mourning”. After the project is done project leadership roles and goals have to change.
Encourage Team Meetings (P 91)
Reward the Team as a whole (p 92)
Establish Mutual Expectations (P 93)
Not all team mate are created equal (P 95)
• Be prepared to treat others by different factors
• Be prepared to explain to others why different people are being treated defiantly.
• Be prepared to explain to an individual why they are being treated differently.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My Coverage of APE 2010
APE 2010, the first convention I did, I learned was more about selling prints, tee shirts, buttons, etc, and less about selling a small independent comic. If you had posters, people were more likely interested. However, even a pretty poster with eye-catching colors didn’t mean sales. A fabulous award-winning artist had a hard time making the final sale even though many onlookers came to visit the artist who had frequented the convention many times the past three years. From my observation and conversations, by Sunday, many in state creators did make profit, but a lot of out of state creators were lucky to break even.
A big reason to do APE is to join the point system for the other conferences of Comi-Con International. The point system leads to better positioning and a chance to get in the over pact San Diego comic-con. In California, San Diego Comi-con remians the best conference to sell original work after accounting for the massive markups and costs during the convention. Wonder-con also in San Francisco is also part of Comic-Con International.
None the less, APE 2010 according to many professional posts on Webcomics.com’s “Convention Dish” has been a more shirking market for comics in general. My onsite observations also had a startling revelation this Saturday, where were all the kids or teens? The demographic for APE did not lead itself to many different types of age groups.
On aside note, although inexpensive alternatives such as Comic Xpress are good for many creators, often creators will choose to print in places like china to lower their overhead and maximize their sales. Nonetheless, This sill means spending a lot money with little guarantee of sales in a year. Often creators have to sit on product for years until they sell out.
Other conventions to consider, Emerald City in Seattle Washington and STAPLE in Austin Texas, which seems to becoming another Emerald City Con, have more attendees hungry for product. Emerald City as a convention is a perfect example of a small comic convention that slowly grows over time because there is enough of a market for comic-books in that town.
In state, there are other conventions such Long Beach Con. In the Bay Area Zine Fest seems to be a great spot to sell alternative comics, but once an event develops a good name for itself, it becomes harder to get in if there are sales to be made. Thus APE, in relationship to Wonder-Con and San Diego Comi-Con, is a good conference to start to get into the swing of things, because it is a convention it gets you in larger convention. However, the lack luster sales for many artists who flew in to do APE often give these creators negative sales and negative attitudes about the show.
Unfortunately, aside from networking and meeting many wonderful artists, I did not sell many of my and my writer’s books. In this sense, if we had more eye catching swag, we could have sold more products; however, we wanted to focus on creating and telling a good story. In this sense, before we even consider to start-making t-shirts, we have to stick to the core product that is the pre-teen to adult graphic novel we intended to create. Still, I’m going to work on my ability to create high contrasting eye catching prints for other events where our project may be more appreciated such as Zine Fest or other local events.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Nemu~Nemu Proposal
"Nemu~Nemu" can potentially reach a larger mainstream market. The creators of Kimono Kisty Studio are at interesting growth potential.
For assignment, I study their website and business model comparing it with experts Robert Khoo and Scott Kurtz's ideas from web-comics. com. While proposing a new venture for the studio similar to Peter Reynold's content driven company Fable Vision.
(http://www.nemu-nemu.com/ )
I’ll be meeting the creators of Namu Namu this year at APE 2010 in San Francisco while showing my pre-teen to adult comic with my partner Ambur Lowenthal.
References:
Khoo., R. (2010, Jan 14) Robert Khoo: Webcomics, the Model
Retrieved From http://www.webcomics.com/home/2010/1/14/robert-khoo-webcomics-the-model.html
Moon, B. (2010 Spet 13) Moon, B. Disney World As Edutainment Retrieved from More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/09/disney-world-as-edutainment/#ixzz120P5Afno
Reynolds P.H., (2010, May 2 ) NETA 2010 Stories That Matter, Stories That Move-Reynolds Podcast retrieved from http://www.netasite.org/
Images From
http://www.nemu-nemu.com
http://www.fablevisionstudios.com/
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/09/disney-world-as-edutainment/
http://zons-education-edutainment.blogspot.com/
http://www.parentsconnect.com/home/index.jhtml
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
Sunday, October 3, 2010
RE: Obama's Albuquerque discussion Part 2
HINES: I have to disagree with you about "Waiting For Superman." I don't think that's the message of the movie, is not to attack the teachers, I think it's really shining a spotlight on how we're failing our kids and how we as adults are failing – From Larry King Live Sept 29th 2010
Are we “Going Green”?
President Obama recently addressed the education needs of the US (KRQE). These needs and issues are explored in a documentary “Waiting for Super Man” (2010). The simply break down of the problem is that the public school system is literally failing the public. The mass of the adolescent population is not being educated for various reasons such as nutrition, students tracking, the recession, etc.
Moreover, the place of the US average child in math and science is lower than that of competing countries. This means that we may not have a population ready to take the “green jobs”, because they will need to be taught the related basic English, Math, and Science needed to produce and maintain new technologies.
Countries such as Japan have been on board with green tech for more than ten years. Japan unlike the US was fully on board with “Green” and did not have many competing oil companies preventing their green industry development as the US had (Deeter and Paine, 2006).
Moreover, Japan also places higher in math and science, so even though they have been in a recession longer then the US, they are a prime example of what we want, a country that has the technology and the work population ready to go Green out of a rescission.
The education challenges we face now as a country are huge, and the bet or debt we invest with deficit spending on education for most, contains the hope that US will be okay in the years to come in the Green movement (KRQE).
References
KRQE (2010)Obama's Albuquerque discussion Part 2, Retrieved from YouTube.com http://www.youtube.com/user/KRQE#p/search/8/efoVeH0GG2w on 10/03/2010
(2010, September 29th) “Fixing America's Public Schools”.
Waters, H. (Producer), Larry King Live. CNN. Transripts retived from
http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/28/lkl.01.html at 10/03/2010
Chilcott, L. (Producer) and Guggenheom D. (Director) (2010) “Waiting for Superman” Retrieved from http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/?gclid=CMjn3-fvtqQCFSFbiAodW2jB0g on 10/03/2010
Are we “Going Green”?
President Obama recently addressed the education needs of the US (KRQE). These needs and issues are explored in a documentary “Waiting for Super Man” (2010). The simply break down of the problem is that the public school system is literally failing the public. The mass of the adolescent population is not being educated for various reasons such as nutrition, students tracking, the recession, etc.
Moreover, the place of the US average child in math and science is lower than that of competing countries. This means that we may not have a population ready to take the “green jobs”, because they will need to be taught the related basic English, Math, and Science needed to produce and maintain new technologies.
Countries such as Japan have been on board with green tech for more than ten years. Japan unlike the US was fully on board with “Green” and did not have many competing oil companies preventing their green industry development as the US had (Deeter and Paine, 2006).
Moreover, Japan also places higher in math and science, so even though they have been in a recession longer then the US, they are a prime example of what we want, a country that has the technology and the work population ready to go Green out of a rescission.
The education challenges we face now as a country are huge, and the bet or debt we invest with deficit spending on education for most, contains the hope that US will be okay in the years to come in the Green movement (KRQE).
References
KRQE (2010)Obama's Albuquerque discussion Part 2, Retrieved from YouTube.com http://www.youtube.com/user/KRQE#p/search/8/efoVeH0GG2w on 10/03/2010
(2010, September 29th) “Fixing America's Public Schools”.
Waters, H. (Producer), Larry King Live. CNN. Transripts retived from
http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/28/lkl.01.html at 10/03/2010
Chilcott, L. (Producer) and Guggenheom D. (Director) (2010) “Waiting for Superman” Retrieved from http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/?gclid=CMjn3-fvtqQCFSFbiAodW2jB0g on 10/03/2010
About Me
In academic and occupational work geared to English instruction, my resume exemplifies my love of working with students and outlines nine years of experiences at various institutions such as Fresno City College, California State University (CSU) of Fresno, Contra Costa College, and San Francisco State University (SFSU) as well as private ESL schools such as the Computer Programming Learning Center (CPLC) San Francisco. I became a CCC instructor because of my coursework in the SFSU IRW Certificate program. To my surprise, I received an “exemplary” standing in my first teacher evaluation of 2008.
As far as Art, I'm interested in becoming a successful creator of graphic novels and web-comics. Hopefully, I can help people with their goals and dreams as they can help me.
As far as Art, I'm interested in becoming a successful creator of graphic novels and web-comics. Hopefully, I can help people with their goals and dreams as they can help me.
Specialties
Teaching, Plot Development, Narrative Project Development, and 2D Character Design, and Drawing
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