Harley Davidson

Question 1:
I believe brand communities like Harley Davidson result in greater involvement with the brand because the brand creates events such as the Posse Ride to help riders engage with one another. By having events like these, riders can share their Harley experiences with one another. For example, car drivers would also get together with others who drive the same car and talk about what they did with their cars and what not. These gatherings or meets will not only bring people closer but they also give the drivers a sense of pride in what they are driving or what they have done. Basically, the brand they are driving is not just a car or a motorcycle, but part of their life.

Question 2:
I believe the experiences and the memories that are shared during the Posse Ride are the main elements that enhance the meaning of the brand for riders. The experiences and the memories are the main elements because sharing a trip with others is both meaningful and personal. So by having trips like that with other drivers, the drivers will develop a sense of connection within the Harley community, almost like Harley Davidson is not only a brand but a family.

Question 3:
I think Harley Davidson's involvement is good where is it because having gatherings and checkpoints are already enough. Harley Davidson wouldn't want to get more involved because then that would seem like the Posse Ride is a task and not a fun and relax ride.

Question 4:
In addition to the Posse Ride, I think Harley could hold several races and also create "marathon" rides but let the riders create routes that they want to go.

iPod Classic

Remember those bulky Sony Walkmans? I remember I used to have one when I was a little girl and it was absolutely the coolest thing I have ever gotten back then. I would carry it with me everywhere to listen to all the radio stations and cassette tapes. It was just awesome because I remember at night when I was supposedly to be sleeping, I would still hold on to the Walkman and listened until I couldn't stay awake anymore. However, what happened to these history makers? These gadgets seemed to be forgotten now that Apple took over the music devices industry. When the Apple iPod first launched in 2001, it became the new it thing. However, it was not until a year or two later that the iPod became the talk in the industry. What made it so popular? The Apple iPod was not just an MP3 player, instead it could carried hundreds and thousands of songs digitally all in one device. It no longer required any tapes or CDs to play music. With one update from the computer, songs in the iPod could decrease or increase however the consumer liked. People no longer had to listen to the same tape or CD over and over again and most importantly people did no need to carry tapes and CDs anymore. It became a necessity because people just wanted it. To have it and to show it. The popularity showed because throughout the years, Apple perfected the iPod classic and developed sub divisions of the iPod, such as iPod mini, iPods nano, and iPod shuffle.

I remember the first time I asked my parents for one, I had to earn it by getting good grades because it was considered a luxury unlike now people would buy the device like it was nothing. Also, people who had an iPod were considered cool because they had the "cool" gadget. When I finally got the iPod nano, I remember I would carry it around in a pouch careful not to scratch or dent it because it was that precious and paying over a hundred for a such a small device was considered expensive.

Now, iPods are mostly owned as a classic because now Apple took the device and branched out to having other devices that are capable of doing much more stuff such as taking pictures, searching the web, playing advance video games and so much more. Overall I think Apple succeeded in creating and promoting the iPod because it became a revolutionary device.

Tide: A Day of Life

At exactly 6 AM Margret wakes up naturally from her sleep. She slips out of bed, careful not to wake her husband. She proceeds to the bathroom to wash up then moves into the closet and throws on her running clothes bought from the thrift store. After her 30 minute jog, she takes a quick shower and puts on a pair of yoga pants and a sweater. She then travels to the kitchen to start her morning coffee, breakfast and prepares lunch for her children. While the bacon (bought from whole food market) are baking in the oven, Margret decides to wake her children and help them get ready for school. She dresses them in their freshly washed and pressed school uniform. After the children are dressed, Margret walks the children to the kitchen and meets with her husband to have their breakfast. After breakfast, Margret meets her husband in the driveway to wishes him a good day at work. When her husband drives off in his Mercedes, Margret walks back in the house and cleans up. She then ushers her children into her Honda Sedan to drive them to school. Margret drops them off in front of their private school and waits for them to enter the school before she drives off. On her way back home, Margret decides to do some grocery shopping in a whole food market. She picks up the expensive organic food for her husband and children and the cheaper alternative for herself. Margret arrives home around 10 in the morning and after she unloads and stores away the grocery, she decides to do the laundry because it saves more energy during the day. Using the Energy Star washer, she loads the clothes in and pours Tide detergent and Downy softener in the dispenser slot. While the laundry are in the washer, Margret cleans and tidies up the house. She also pays bills electronically on her PC after she puts the laundry in the Energy Star dryer. Later in the day, after all the chores are done and the clothes are folded, Margret goes on her laptop to check emails and do some work from home. Around 5, Margret starts preparing dinner and around 6 she drives to her children school to pick them up from their extra curricular activities. With her children helping her preparing dinner and making her table, they start dinner around 7:30 when her husband arrives home. After dinner, her husband would clean the dishes and the table while she helps her children with their homework. When homework is done, the whole family spends some family time in the living room before the children are off to bed. Finally Margret catches up with her husband talking how each other's day went before she goes to bed around 12.

Rose Petal Cottage

On Wednesday's workshop, we discussed two advertisements with gender stereotypes. One of them was the Rose Petal Cottage commercial. This commercial was full of gender stereotypes. First the colors used in this app were all girly pastel colors and not a single boy was seen throughout the whole commercial. Even the theme song was sung by a girl. The lyrics in the song was also stereotypical because the little girl in the song was singing about her how dream is to raise kids and be a housewife.

To break the stereotypes, I thought the commercial could use more neutral colors instead of pastel colors because not only girls, but boys should be able to play house too. Also instead of have just girls playing with the cottage, the commercial should show both boys and girls playing and the theme song should be sung by both genders.

Using Apps to Campaign

While social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter are great sources of advertisement, app is another great way to deliver information out to the public digitally.  Here are two apps from World Wildlife Fund also known as WWF. The first app is called WWF Together. Using a sleek and cutting edge interactive design, WWF hope by delivering information about the importance of these endangered species, users can understand what these animals are facing so they can take actions in protecting them.

The second app is an UK app. Launched by the WWF, creators of this app integrated 10 London's waterside hotspots into this app. This Waterside Challenge app contains facts, videos, and quizzes, which the user can earn panda points and win prizes such as t-shirts, canoeing and kayaking lessons. The idea of this app is to encourage people to go out, experience the nature and hopefully have them realize what's around them and what they will be missing once these nature habitats and animals are gone.

I think these apps are a great way to get people involve and interact with nature because people are always looking for fun apps to download onto their smartphones or media devices. Therefore launching these apps will not only bring entertainment to the users but it will also do wonders to the campaign. 

Gender Stereotype

Sexism isn't a new thing that society has to face. In fact it has been around for quite awhile. Take a look at this ad. In the ad below, the woman is seen holding a bottle of nail polish with the caption "Secretaries, look!" next to it. As if it is not stereotyping enough, it even says, "Beauty consultants styled it just for secretaries... Type us a letter on office stationary asking for it." I think this is quite offensive to women because it's basically saying secretaries = women, whose only job is to type letters in their office cubical.

If you think sexism has gotten better as time progressed, then you are absolutely wrong. True, gender stereotyping has gotten a lot for more discreet in ads and they are definitely less blunt and straight forward then the ads back in the day. However, sexism still exists. Take this ad for example, in this ad is a picture of a kitchen stove with pots on top of it. While the picture is okay, it's the words that are sexist. This ad is indicating that women are the ones who cook, but what the designers behind this ad failed to realize is that women nowadays are more involve in the working class and sometimes men are actually the ones who cook in the kitchen.