Cats or Dogs???

It’s the age-old argument....cats or dogs??Which of our furry little friends take your fancy??People give many reasons for their preferences.........

Cats are described as independent, free-spirited, amusing, playful and active by lovers and cold, unloving, selfish and even obnoxious by the cat haters.

 Equally dogs are described as playful, loyal, intelligent and even man’s best friend by their supporters and unclean, high maintenance, dangerous and stupid by those not so fond!!

Even though I am a lover of both animals I find myself leaning more so towards cats, having 5 of them kinda sways you!!I find they are very loving creatures in a different way which is very soothing to be around.

 However I am aware that cats cannot do everything dogs can do for example look adorable in a tutu or pull off a fine dinner jacket. No cats like to stick to what god gave them and they seem to definitely prefer it this way. I am talking from experience….apparently cats don’t like wearing Christmas scarves or reindeer ears…they decided to convey this to me by scratching my whole arms and hiding behind our furniture ensuring a very uneasy evening wondering if they would appear claws armed for another attack!!

Whilst pondering why some people have such a dislike for puddytats I came across this diary which I think, definitely describes the two animals differing personality’s in a very amusing and accurate way!!

I actually think it is cats look of contempt and expectations of only the best are what endears us lovers to them, the air of superiority and ice cool attitude as it struts about is what makes them so amusing to watch…its fearlessness in the face of the enemy (at times, Chihuahua-yes, St. Bernard-No!!) all make Garfield my choice over Snoopy any day!!!

My Blogging Experience

Well here I am on my second last Blog!!As part of our E-Tourism module we are required to complete 8 Blogs. Initially I was apprehensive as although I had heard of Blogging before I had never to my memory really read one or subscribed to any Blogs. What I had heard was that it is possible to make a living from Blogging as many people have done online voicing their opinions and giving advice etc. I was pretty sure this success would not come from my blogging career ha!!If I’m completely honest I did not enjoy Blogging too much particularly topics of our own choice. Call me unoriginal but I struggled to come up with topics. I think it’s because Blogs involve voicing your own personal opinions which I really would not usually be comfortable doing unless to close friends. However I can see how addictive and amusing Blogs can be. It is an interesting platform to see certain events and experiences from other people’s points of view and hearing anecdotes from their lives. It was a good opportunity to see what this Internet phenomenon was all about. Unfortunately I am pretty certain I won’t be pursuing a Blogging career but it was an enlightening while it lasted!!

Your total media exposure / breakdown

This topic was posed to determine our exposure to media. For the purpose of this blog I broke down my usage of social media per week into percentages.

Facebook: 65%

Twitter: 25%

LinkedIn: 7%

Blogs: 3%

The results are not too surprising as I have been a member of Facebook for over 3 years and it is a brilliant way for maintaining relationships with friends and family away from home and chatting to friends on a daily basis.Twitter was the second highest result which I have become addicted to since joining it as part of our E-Tourism module. The key aspect of Twitter that makes it so popular is that you can follow celebrities, sports people, news broadcasters and any other website or person that would be of interest to you as well as following your friends too. I only access LinkedIn 7% as I have just joined the site and as it is used purely in a professional capacity, I feel that I may use this site more so in the future when I began my career. However I do find this site interesting as it allows you to connect to your classmates, lecturers and the wider professional community.  The final 3% is made up of Blogs which is also a requirement of this module. I am only really getting into the swing of using Blogs and am not sure whether I will continue to use them after I complete this module.  I feel this is an adequate portrayal of my media exposure during a normal week, although I feel that perhaps LinkedIn may take a more prominent position when I leave college.

Integrated Marketing/E-Tourism Project

This was our final assignment to be completed as part of our Honours Degree and involved choosing an existing company and re-branding its image, deciding its target markets (existing and potential) by implementing all elements of the communications mix and identify the strategies for both offline and online channels of communication.

After much deliberation, we chose the Leprechaun Museum in Dublin.

The Museum is the first ever attraction dedicated to Irish mythology, opens up a fun and magical world full of fascinating folklore, mythology and enchanting stories. It claims to be the first leprechaun museum in the world.  We chose the museum for many reasons:

• Its uniqueness
• Its location
•  Its potential

Our main aims were to:

• To create a one voice, one look brand image for the museum;
• To create top of mind awareness in the minds of our international market particularly the American market, schools and the general leisure market .

The first decision was to interview the Director of the museum to gain first-hand information about the museum and to ask specific questions such as their advertising methods, target markets and plans for expansion. We then decided on our marketing strategy which would be fundamental in the success of the re-branding of the museum.

Our campaign followed the structure of the SOSTAC model. SOSTAC is an acronym for the following six elements of our marketing plan:

·         Situation analysis, asks what the current state of the business is.

·         Objectives, helps list an overview of goals for the business.

·         Strategy helps provide a “big picture” plan to achieve the goals

·         Tactics breaks down the “big picture” strategy into smaller details

·         Action helps assign responsibility and deadlines for certain tasks

·         Control offers an easy way to track the progress of the plan

We felt that while the National Leprechaun was a unique business it did not have a strong brand identity which would stick in customer’s minds. After careful consideration we decided it would be detrimental to change the company’s name as it instantly grabs attention and explains what the museum entails. However we decided that the museum needed a logo as this would be how the museum would be visually identified in the business world and to customers.

                                                                                   

                                                                        New Logo

We also created a new slogan which we hope will capture the fun, exciting, uniquely Irish personality of the museum:   

“Have the craic, agus maybe find a crock!”

We felt this new logo and slogan is a better representation of what the Leprechaun Museum aims to be. 

Tactics:

We implemented both online and offline methods of communication.

Online:

Website and Social Media.

Off-line:

Increased print and radio advertisements 

Direct Mail

Personal contact with potential markets

We also created a new website and booking page which can be seen on our Prezi and in our completed assignment. It was a very enjoyable assignment as it an opportunity to use a new form of presentation method and also allowed us to decide and  implement our ideas on how to improve an organisation which was a very interesting concept.

The Final Countdown!!!!

Well here we are. The final week of college and lectures ever!!Its hard to believe that this year is almost over, never mind our college experience!!On entering the doors of DkIT in September 2008 not knowing a soul I really thought it would never end and that I would never get to know anyone along with a million other irrational fears!!Now almost 4 years later I almost wish this door didn't have to close. As cliché as it sounds, I have met some of the best people, learned so much both academically and personally and loved every minute of this experience. Obviously as with every thing in life, there were tough times but looking back the good definitely outweighed the bad a million times over!! As sad as I am that this chapter of my life is swiftly coming to a close, I am excited as to what the future holds and will always look back at these times with a smile on my face. 

Technology Fast

Recently I participated in a 24 hour Technology Fast which stipulated that I must refrain from using my phone, Internet or Emails for a whole day!!I could see the point of the experiment as I don't think we really realise how much we rely on technology to plan and execute our daily routines, however I felt the timing was unfortunate as with so much college work on I felt unwilling to give up my phone as I needed to meet with my classmates for group work at different times throughout the day. Therefore I decided to forgo the Internet or so I thought....as I have a bill phone I have free Internet on my phone and found myself subconsciously reaching for it to check Face Book or Google any query I have. With the fast I got a glimpse of how much time I waste on these sites and also how sad it is that I so often immerse myself in an on-line world whilst surrounded by real people!! :O Although I'm ashamed to say I only lasted a matter of hours abstaining from the Internet it has made me make a conscious decision to reduce the amount of time I spend on these sites! It also increased my appreciation for my phone as the request that I give it up even for such a short space of time would interrupt my life so much from the moment I wake up (alarm) to when I go to sleep (calls and texts to plan next day).

                                                                                                                           

                        

Mobile Commerce & Wireless Technology

The emergence of mobile phones and wireless technology has radically changed how we interact we each other and indeed the world. Mobile phones quickly developed from machines for sending and receiving calls and texts to machines capable of recording and downloading photos, videos and music, Internet access and transmitting payments.

Then

The world of business has also been dramatically changed and must constantly evolve in order to respond and remain competitive to these technological developments.If used correctly wireless technology can help businesses cut costs, increases flexibility and create new products and services e.g. Starbucks "hotspots". It has become a necessity expected within the hotel industry particularly for corporate clients. It can also increase employee productivity as it takes less time to establish relationship with customers and to access information. It has many benefits for consumers such as informational, to search for a restaurant, transaction based services such as purchasing tickets and personalised services which anticipates what a customer wants based on their location.  It is therefore inevitable that Mobile Commerce and Wireless Technology is the way of the future.

                                                                           

Now