Music culture...

I’ve noticed that in terms of music, Berlin and Miami are very similar. A lot of the popular songs that are playing in the US are playing in Berlin as well. We’ve been to a few nightclubs around the city and the atmosphere is very similar as well, although the mixing of the music is a little bit different. They incorporate German music and American music into the playlist. Actually I’ve come to notice that American music is played more than any other king of music, not only at the clubs but also on the regular radio. Another interesting thing for me was walking into a bar where the only tourist or Americans where us, and all of the sudden they played “reggeton” music which is very popular music in Puerto Rico.

The difference between Germany and the US is that in the US we tend to not be as opened minded as in Germany in terms of music. Everybody who is not a minority from other countries in the US, listen to American music more than any other type. As I mentioned the German people accept American music very well although they also listen to their own very popular artists like Peter Fox and Seeed which are hip hop artists. Electronic music, rock music and pop music are very popular as well.

A very interesting thing I saw as I was walking around Potsdamer Platz was a group of four young men performing. They set a radio with hip hop music and started to perform choreography getting the attention of the people passing by. I thought it was interesting because I’ve seen this a couple of times around the city of Berlin. In Miami this is not very common to see around the streets. But the music and the type of dance they were using is very common in America.

Non-traditional advertising/promotion strategies (Pass the ball)

As I was passing by the Sony Center with a couple of the FIU students we noticed this interesting promotion called Pass the Ball. They had set this gigantic ball strategically in a place where lots of people walk by in the middle of the center. In side if the ball there was a camera and a place where people could sit and share their ideas. Basically, the promotion is about this internet site called Pass the ball.de where people share an idea and post it on the web site and they will make a donation to a program called, Teachers Without Borders. It’s about people working together to set ideas in motion and make things happen. Plus the top-rated idea will receive one year free of WebEx to set their idea in motion through collaboration with people all over the world.

It was interesting to see the different strategies they used for this promotion. They had a team of promotion people giving away little balls with the name of the promotional campaign. The promotional team were explaining and inviting people to participate and they wore t-shirts with the name of the promotion. A big flat screen TV was also place beside the gigantic ball and it was constantly playing example of people sharing their ideas as a way of inviting others to do the same thing. Also in the metro stations around the Sony Center there were a lot of billboards advertising the campaign and the website. Blue, green and black were the colors used in the campaigns which in my opinion are very appealing colors.

Pass the Ball is definitely a non-traditional promotion strategy and very integrated media using billboards, promotion and Internet, ect. It was a very creative idea and it is important to mention that a lot of people stop by to see what the gigantic ball was all about.

http://www.passtheball.com/

Sex and Beauty (Erotic City)

Some pictures speaks for themselves, and that is the case of the one presented in this entry. As the FIU group was touring around the city of Prague, we also came across with this very interesting ad. In the middle of the street we saw a big poster of a naked woman with a vibrator on her side. We were amazed by the poster because is really rare to see such an explicit ad in the US. Most of the people from the group agreed that they’ve never seen an ad of a vibrator in the middle of the street in the US. And even if it wasn’t advertising the vibrator but the erotic store it was quite surprising. What makes it more controversial maybe for Americans is the fact that the poster was placed in a street were not only adults but children walked by everyday because this is a very popular street in the city.

The ad is very simple; it does not contain any text and barely any color. The images are so strong that it could literally speak for themselves living little to the imagination. The only two things highlighted with color were the naked woman and the vibrator. Not only the woman in the picture is naked but is also beautiful which makes this ad more appealing. With this example we can clearly see how sex and beauty combines to make advertising capable enough to capture consumers’ attention. Also allows a strong association between the image and the brand.

Analysis of a branding campaign through diverse media (AVON)

On June 6th, a couple of the FIU abroad program students got the chance to visit the city of Prague. As we were walking around one of Prague’s mayor Platz, we came across the Avon breast cancer awareness campaign. From a distance you could see the stage and pink balloons that clearly represented breast cancer awareness. The logo and name of the company was displayed on across the top of the stage. It was very interesting to see how easily everyone in the group recognized AVON, and we were very surprised that they distributed the brand in this country as well. For all of us it was clearly an example of globalization and new markets.

The stage was located in the middle of the Platz which is a very popular area for locals as well as for tourist. Not only was the stage big enough to be easily seen from far away but signage and posters were easily visible from far away. A desk was placed for people to register for the activity with flyers being handed out around the Platz. They were also giving out t-shirts and pink balloons to the people who participated in the event. It was very interesting to see how the people not participating in the walking event where also holding pink balloons around the city, which makes you automatically think of “AVON” and remember that the event was taking place. As we walked around the city and entered the different stores, we found a couple of flyers at the registration counter. The flyers were advertising the event, inviting people to participate and it had a little bit of information about the breast cancer awareness as well as information explaining the dynamics of the activity.

After seeing the stage early in the morning, the posters around the city and the flyers in the stores we also had the opportunity to see the activity taking place. All the participants were wearing their pink shirt, they were holding a pink balloon and members of the staff where holding an enormous balloon with the company name in pink. We stopped for a couple of minutes to see people walked through a very popular park of the city, and in a weird way we felt part of the activity. That day you could see AVON all around the city, no matter where you went, you could see at least a poster or someone holding a pink balloon. They definitely did a good job advertising the sponsorship event and they definitely used diverse media around the city.

Images of ethnic minorities “Love deserves Respect”

As I was walking from my hostel to school, I couldn’t help but notice a big poster on the wall. It was placed on a building within a Turkish community. I was really impressed by the image and I decided to talk about it in the class. As I was speaking about it one of my team mates from Germany gave me his opinion. Daniel Cupic, a German student from IMK, was the one who let me know that the poster was written in Turkish; he also thought that the reason for it was that the Turkish community in Berlin is less tolerant on the gay population. It is really important to remember that the Turks in Germany form the largest ethnic minority in Germany.

Is very common now to see homosexual and lesbian couples displaying affection in the US but never have I seen an advertising campaign like “Love deserves respect”. This campaign against homophobia launched in Berlin in March 2009, sponsored by Germany's Lesbian and Gay Federation in response to recent anti-gay attacks in the city. The main purpose is to extinguish prejudices, fight for respect and demonstrate that there is no place for homophobia in Berlin.

There are also two other poster that feature variations of lesbian and heterosexual couples embraced in a kiss. It also contains the words "Love Deserves Respect" in German, as well as Turkish and Arabic. There is a strong opposition to homosexuals, especially amongst the younger population, and recently there has been increasing violence towards gays and lesbians. So what they want to demonstrate by having a heterosexual as well as lesbian and homosexual in the posters, is that “it is always a matter of love”. Since this campaign began it is possible to find the message on numerous posters distributed throughout the German capital. At the beginning of the campaign they started with posters in 160 regions but at the end of the year that number should rise to more than 250.

I can only hope that the Berlin poster campaign achieves the desired effect, and people especially the younger population, abandon their animosity against heterosexuality. And hopefully anytime soon there can be also a campaign like this in the USA. Not only the image of the poster is impressive, but the purposed and the name of the campaign “Love deserves respect” are really appropriate.

http://www.wieninternational.at/en/node/14519

First Impressions of IMC in Berlin

As we tour around Berlin I couldn’t help to notice the architecture of the city, it’s hard to believe what the city has been through during World War II. Berlin has definitely move on from the times where it was divided into four sectors, each controlled by one of the Allied powers, Great Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union. It’s interesting to see how Berlin has managed to pick up the pieces and had moved forward into a beautiful and metropolitan city. Many people have decided to forgive and forget and had made Berlin one of the most amazing cities in Europe. I thought I was going to hear a lot more about Hitler but was surprised to see that the place where he died is now a parking lot

In terms of the media I’ve come to notice very creative advertisements especially in transportation places, such as the metro stations and buildings. Berlin is actually home of many television and radio stations; international, national as well as regional. It also has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation. Even though product placement in Germany is illegal they manage to come with very creative ideas to do advertising. Such is the example of The German Talkmaster and TV-Entertainent Stefan Raab who has created a televised event and sponsoring platform of curious and crazy fun sport events.

Expectations about cultural differences between Germany and US

As I am getting ready for my Berlin Study Abroad experience the only thing that comes to my mind is the Holocaust. I have been doing a lot of research about it and I am very interested to see how Berlin has developed into such an amazing city after it’s horrible past events. It would also be interesting to note how much importance they give to this period in history and major characters within their past, such as Hitler. Since this is going to be my first time in Berlin, I expect to see a lot of monuments commemorating the Jewish victims during the World War II. I also want to experience some of the most famous attractions of the city, such as: the Brandenburg Gate, remains of the Berlin Wall, and the Fernsehturm TV tower.

As an international student coming from Puerto Rico, I am also looking forward to getting to know my other FIU students and to practice my English, as Spanish is my first language. I do not know how to speak German so I believe it will be very interesting to see how the FIU students, IMK students, and I communicate with each other. I have a feeling that is going to be very fascinating since there are a lot of German student who are expecting us to know better English than them. In terms of the advertising, I can only imagine that Berlin is highly ranked as it is such a cosmopolitan city full of many people from many different parts of the world. Therefore, I think I’m going to find very interesting ideas for future work.

Things that I want to experience in Berlin:
http://www.realbuzz.com/realberlinmarathon/what_to_see_and_do/index.php?page=3.2