Education-Strategy Essay

It is a common knowledge in human development that individuals have stark differences especially in their cognitive capacities and behavioral attributes. Education was then established to somehow reconcile this individual diversity hence it is a must for teachers to allot substantial amount of their time to prepare and assess instructional approach and materials that they will employ in classes of heterogeneous populace of students. To effectively facilitate the learning outcomes of students, teachers at every level should map out their objectives for the specified topic of each instructional period. Teachers usually have different strategies in preparing a lesson; some create detailed and meticulously encoded charts while other teachers plainly scrawl down the notes for a particular topic at a discarded piece of pad. Strategies in planning for an instructional approach are immaterial because the most important endeavor is for the teacher to execute wise decisions about the feasibility of their instructional technique to the successful attainment of learner goals. Furthermore, it is an educational requirement that teachers should be well-equipped of the knowledge that they are teaching because specialization of a particular subject matter effectually bolsters the realization of an educator’s designed objective for the improvement of students’ cognitive competence. First and foremost, before a teacher could outline relevant topics for a subject matter and its corresponding intent the teacher must conduct a pre-assessment of the students’ capacity and skills in a class that is needed to be handled; it can be in a form of a diagnostic test or conversational question-and-answer approach. The teacher ideally should not carry out an impersonal treatment to the students since they are not basically identical in aptitude and manners. After carefully assessing the individual needs of the students a teacher then must enterprise in designing a lesson plan that is precisely appropriate for the learners’ demand. In delivering carefully prepared instructional scheme, a teacher must keep in mind the unavoidable nuisance that may hinder the proper execution of the lessons’ objectives. In addressing this kind of problem in the classroom, teachers should make use of rewards and punishments to further reinforce the need to conquer irresponsible learning behaviors and the encouragement of receptiveness to knowledge enhancement. At the end of a specified topic’s timeframe, the teacher then is expected to administer a check-up test. In doing so, a teacher must be aware of the following criteria in designing a test questionnaire; the test must coincide with the intended learning objectives; the test questions should accurately recount the information taught; the test items must quantify relevant ideas and not those that are insignificant; the test items must be able to assess the composite behaviors, the practical abilities or principles-application of the students and not just simply reckoning memory skills; and lastly, the test questionnaire must be clear and simple to avoid confusion. The test should not be purely objective because it cannot measure the reasoning abilities of students. Provide spaces in the test papers that will measure the subjectivity level and argumentative skills of the students. Commonplace negative feedbacks occur every after a test exam is successfully completed. Normal setbacks such as large percentages of failing students occur that extremely pressures teachers because of strict adherence to the set timeframe of lesson plans. In cases of unforeseen problems like this, a teacher must devote time to communicate with the students to inquire the difficulties they have encountered in the entire instructional program. Subsequently, after the appraisal of the factors contributing to the failure of a large portion of students in the examination, the teacher may form study groups that will be evenly comprised of both astute and slow-learners. The teacher then must monitor that the study groups discuss or brainstorm about the previous topics while a new one is being elicited. Afterwards, the teacher may administer another test to evaluate the success of the remedial approach. Works Cited Center for Teaching and Learning. Brigham Young University http://ctl. byu. edu/? page_id=343 Ten â€Å"Must-Know† Facts About Educational Testing. PTA: Every Child, One Voice, 2000-2008 http://www. pta. org/archive_article_details_1117837372328. html

Disadvantages of Early Marriage

Marriage can provide a great deal of stability in a relationship, giving spouses certain legal and monetary advantages, as well as bringing them closer together emotionally. But marriage isn't the best option for everyone, and has certain disadvantages for younger couples. The average age for a first marriage in the US is 27 for women and 29 for men — roughly six to seven years older than first marriages of previous decades. However some couples still choose to get married much younger — sometimes right out of high school. Related Searches: Marriage Divorce LawMarriage and RelationshipMarriage Divorce LawMarriage and Relationship Sense of Self One disadvantage of early marriage is that younger people haven't had the opportunity to explore themselves much beyond their families, or small groups of friends. In order to develop a keen sense of self, one that is capable of contributing fully to a relationship, some discovery is needed about interests and goals. Giving each other several years to uncover these likes and dislikes will go a long way in bringing together more mature partners in a marriage. Goals When it comes to goals, you may know what you want to do right after high school. In fact, you may have your entire career mapped out — right down to retirement. But funny things can happen when you go to college or start your chosen career. You may find that the path you chose doesn't suit you at all. Instead of a 9-to-5 job, you may want one that allows you to travel the world, for example. If your spouse isn't keen on going with you, it may spell trouble for your marriage. Commonalities It's easy to have things in common when you attend the same school, have the same friends, and live in the same town. Unfortunately, this can create a false picture of all the aspects of life that you share with your spouse, or future spouse. You may find that when you are alone together — without the benefit of common pursuits — that your true interests or perspectives just on't mesh. Finances Meager finances are a major pitfall of marrying too early. If you want a nice wedding, the average cost is $25,000. Then there are student loans to consider, relocating costs, and even possible child care expenses. Younger people aren't likely to be at the point in their career when they can easily shoulder such burdens. This can cause fighting and tension that leads young married couples to divorce. Wu

Life & Wessex King Essay

Life in the past was characterized with lots of battles between rival territories. This resulted to the rise of powerful empires and the measure of power during those days was through the number of wars fought. Warriors of those days were called Vikings. A Viking also denotes a pirate, merchant or explorer. These Norsemen normally used long ships to travel in the sea to all the places of their interest and used the same vessels to fight their enemies. The Vikings are traced to have originated in the early 17th century in the German territory. The initiator of Vikings in the Iceland is Erik the red. He lived all his life ruling his people after which his son picked the mantle from him (Gwyn, J. 2000). SCANDINAVIA The term Scandinavia is both a historical a major geographical part in the world. There exist also a people who are identified as the Scandinavians. According to the geographical setting, Scandinavia is located in the Northern Europe, a place called Scandinavian Peninsula. The kingdoms that existed in the Scandinavian region include: Finland, Norway and partly Denmark. A lot of research done also reveal that Sweden and Iceland also form part of this robust history. All these regions put together are further referred to as Nordic region. The geographical orientation of Scandinavia is rather ambiguous. The region spreads from the Norwegian Fjords all the way to the low areas in Denmark through the Scandinavian Mountains and to the archipelagos of Sweden and Norway. This region has diverse group of people and for this reason, there exist more that one dialect. The languages that were spoken in these regions included Norway, Sweden and Denmark dialects. These people usually understood each other and thus had mutual understanding. DO THE VIKINGS RIGHTFULLY DESERVE THE REPUTATION THAT THEY WERE CRUEL, MURDEROUS BARBARIANS? WHY? WHY NOT? The Vikings performed most of their ventures through wars. It is evident that a normal way of dressing was to be attire that is characteristic of a warrior. The males had war uniforms all the time. From the first time that the Vikings entered a territory, war had to be fought. It is mandatory that people must die in the event of war. The death of people was so common to these northern tribes that any one could talk of them to be cruel and murderous. Other ventures like sea piracy and looting were associated with brutality and blood shed. The victims of such encounters were left counting their losses if they were not dead. Erik who is one of the founders of the Vikings movement was actually observed to murder many people in his native land until he was expelled to go to exile, the result which led to the discovery of Ice land. EXPLAIN THE ROLE OF WESSEX, IN REGARD TO THE VIKINGS IN ENGLAND. The Wessex territory was known for its great power during the year 878. This territory had great potential that any attacker could admire. Te Wessex King of that time planed for a very efficient army that was to fight and defeat the Viking warriors. This king managed to resist the Vikings and with time became pronounced as Alfred the great. His territory was a centre for trade, commerce and administration. The Vikings however invaded this land and took loots from it as usual. The Wessex region acted as a real opposition to the advances of the Vikings. Every one feared the Vikings. The sight of these raiders approaching a region would send cold shivers down the guts of every king. King Alfred however managed to escape them, even though he was later cornered. The Wessex region became a home of habitation to some Vikings although others separated from the settling camp and continued with invasion. Wessex became a point mark towards bringing an end to the Viking advances in war. HOW DID THE VIKINGS CONTRIBUTE TO THE BREAK-UP OF THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE? The Vikings were a major threat to the kings during the Viking age. The Vikings attached Carolingian empire in the year 885 and 886 leading to the defeat of their kings. In 845, the Viking warriors sailed to seine in France and attacked it. The end result of this was a defeat to the Carolingian empire and the kings that followed were just puppet rulers who were initiated by the Vikings. This led to the fall of this empire and it took along time to come up again. EXPLAIN THE VARIOUS PHASES INVOLVED IN VIKING RAIDS. Vikings mainly had 3 phases of raids. The very first phase said to have lasted from 790-840. The Vikings used very shallow draught long ships. They always used these ships because they were suitable majorly for surprise attacks in the coastal towns. The size of these vessels was so small so that the Vikings could rush and attack very fast. With this they attacked Frisia and Aquitane. The second level of attacks occurred between 841 and 875 and the number of raids increased. The Vikings attacked by killing or enslaving their victims. With this, the attacks proceeded to the Mediterranean Sea. 876 to 911 saw the introduction of the third phase. With this, the Vikings started to invade frnce and other parts of Europe. They also developed their own fleets that were used to attack distance empires.

Guest Speakers and Investigation of Lifestyling Case Study

Guest Speakers and Investigation of Lifestyling - Case Study Example On the other hand, unlike most partnerships, the John Lewis Partnership has distinctive HR structure and management because it is employee-owned and among the main aims is guaranteeing happiness for all the members (John Lewis Partnership, 2015). Given Capital Insight’s reputation, the consultancy has been the provider of HR solutions for corporations through excellent ideas on retained contracts, interim support, outsourced services, training design and delivery among other significant areas focusing on personnel management. Moreover, Capital Insight advocates for the Soft and Hard Models of HRM. Despite being a well-established company in the UK, Capital Insight has worked even with small firms providing manageable services at low costs (Capital Insight, 2015). I think the experience of more than two decades has made it easy for the company to understand the UK market and corporations hence their strong reputation and credibility. This is the reason why, unlike other consultancy agencies, Capital Insight can provide services to companies and allow on-going monthly payments. Capital Insight’s persistence on speed, quality and expertise as the main values of performance and achievements makes the provision of the HR services very efficient. However, the culture is the key aspect to the professionals guaranteeing their clients interim support despite the limitations of time (Capital Insight, 2015). Helping the HR departments for large corporations such as Virgin, Siemens or Fins-bury Food Group reflects on the powerful reputation of Capital Insight, which shows that the amount of attention given to reputation determines a company’s success and can become an issue too. I believe Capital Insight’s input in developing standard and strong relationships with the clients facilitates their ability to offer specific services most consultancy agencies overlook such as conflict management.  

Analyze a character of your choosing from any of the short stories we Essay

Analyze a character of your choosing from any of the short stories we have read and explain how that character illustrates a theme. (I picked the narrator from the cathedral by Raymond carver) - Essay Example Despite the fact that his wife has remained a friend to the blind man, Robert, for the last ten years, they have not met since then, and the narrator does not like the fact that Robert is visiting his wife after he lost his wife. Therefore, he is uncomfortable receiving the blind man in his house, and thus goes on to say, â€Å"a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to† (Carver, 209). The narrator does not seem to appreciate what the friendship means to his wife, and he does not care about what the friend ship means to the blind man, who has just lost his wife. Thus, the narrator comes out as a person who only cares about his own feelings, in total disregard of what the others feel. In a further show of meanness, the narrator does not appreciate the fact that it was Robert who had assisted his wife in a suicide attempt after she got divorced from her former husband (Halpert, 44). Instead, the narrator seems to be concerned with the fact that Robert is part of his wife’s past, and consequently he becomes jealous. The narrator comes out as a person who is completely insensitive to the plight of other people. In fact, he narrates that his perception of a blind man is that from the movies, where they are neither found to be happy nor to laugh, while their movement is slow. The narrator says â€Å"My idea of blindness came from the movies† (Carver, 209). This indicates that he has never been concerned about people who have such disabilities, and in fact, the only time he becomes aware of them is through the movies. Making such statements in relation to a blind person with disability is really a display of insensitivity (Amir, 38). Further, instead of appreciating that the blind man is a capable man who has been able to bring up and keep a family until he lost his wife, the narrator feels pity for the wife of the blind

Effects of colonization on aboriginal peoples of North America Essay

Effects of colonization on aboriginal peoples of North America - Essay Example The history of Canada shows that it might have had different geographic divisions if it were not for the influence and roles played by its aboriginal people on the land. As an example, Canada would not have existed and would have been part of the United States were it not for the crucial military role played by aboriginal populations in at least two significant historical events 2006). The aboriginal people formerly held sway and ownership over what we know today as Canada. This is an historical fact which is recognized by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and other treaties between three British governments and the Sovereign Aboriginal nation. These served as the basis for succeeding treaties. Ironically, it also gave the means by which Aboriginal land titles could be extinguished 2006). The Royal Proclamation of 1763 marked the beginning of efforts to remove the entire aboriginal peoples from their lands, resources and undermine their rights. This effort succeeded partly with military interventions but these armed conflicts were minimal compared to those waged in the United States. In contrast, American government efforts against aboriginal peoples policies and actions which were more militaristic. In Canada, the government approach was characterized by the political process of assimilation 2006). Although it may seem that the aboriginal population of Canada were peacefully cooperating as allies and business partners, underneath the surface was a prevalence of apartheid, assimilation, ethnic cleansing, infractions on human rights, racism, and oppression, which marked the last 350 years of Canadian aboriginal history. Though on the receiving end of much suffering and prejudice, the aboriginal population played a crucial role in the establishment and confederation of Canada. Aborigines were employed in military roles and their involvement during the attempts of the United States to annex Canada helped keep the balance in favor of the British. The Indian forces were also responsible for keeping Americans from succeeding in their persistent encroachments into Canada ( 2006). A modern society with a federal structure was established with the confederation of Canada in 1867. The initiative towards confederation began as early as 1858 and increased in pace in 1864 and 1866. Although the confederation delegates went into extensive discussions to hammer out the details of confederation, there was no time when the First Nations were included in the talks. Neither were they consulted nor their future roles in the federation publicly acknowledged. Their future was determined unilaterally and as the first prime minister, Sir John MacDonald said, "to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the inhabitants of the Dominion" (GENOCIDE & ASSIMILATION: Canada's Aboriginal People experience "Ethnic cleansing - Canadian-Style !" http://offreserve.tripod.com/articles.html). This was consistent with the British Empire's task of carrying the "white man's burden". This is to mean the civilizing of indigenous peoples within the empire, may they be Indian, Maori, Zulu, etc. The "white man's burden" also serves as the justification for the annexation of the lands and resources of these indigenous populations. For Victorian

Paper Tigers by Wesley Yang Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Paper Tigers by Wesley Yang - Essay Example Yang speaks mostly about men, and Pozner examines stereotypes about women. From the analysis and comparison of the arguments of the two articles, it follows that racial stereotypes operate in different ways for men and women. Overall, the essay will analyze racial stereotypes created in corporate America (based on Yang’s work), racial stereotypes on the media (based on Pozner’s piece) and compare the ways racial stereotypes operate for men and women (through the analysis of the two articles). As it has been mentioned above, in his essay, Wesley Yang addresses stereotyping of Asian American males at the workplace, in corporate America in particular. Specifically, Yang discusses the notion, which is referred today as the Bamboo Ceiling defined as â€Å"an invisible barrier that maintains a pyramidal racial structure throughout corporate America, with lots of Asians at junior levels, quite a few in middle management, and virtually none in the higher reaches of leadershipà ¢â‚¬ . In other words, the author of this article claims that despite the fact that many of Asian Americans graduate from elite universities with higher grades than representative of other ethnic groups living in the United States, they are not perceived as suitable for holding leading positions in business. To prove this, Yang addresses the statistical data, in accordance to which Asian Americans, and Asian American men in particular, are in the minority when it comes to holding leading positions.

Air Passenger Duty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Air Passenger Duty - Research Paper Example It is expected that at the end of the paper, there shall be a definitive decision taken by the Welsh Minister on the way forward, as far as air passenger duty is concerned. 2 Background The air passenger duty could be said to be the brainchild of the Holtham Commission, which in 2010 came out with a recommendation to the Welsh Government on the need to make significant adjustments to its existing tax policies, especially those on minor taxes2. As part of the minor taxes to be considered was the air passenger duty. But since its imposition, the air passenger duty has come under intense public, academic and professional debate as to whether or not everything is being done right with the tax in terms of the allotment of duties and whether or not the air passenger duty should continue to exist at all. Currently, the air passenger duty is charged as a levy on a group of passengers tagged as chargeable passengers, using a group of aircraft tagged as chargeable aircraft from a United Kingdo m airport3. Even though the passenger may be the eventual payer of the levy, the duty is actually charged to the owner of the aircraft and thus the operator of the aircraft becomes payable to the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government does not therefore have any direct interactions with the passenger as far as the levies are concerned and it will be noted that even with the operator of the aircraft, the charge of the air passenger duty takes effect once the passenger aircraft first becomes airborne4. Currently, there are no fixed rates of duties or levies cutting across all chargeable aircrafts and for chargeable passengers. Rather, there are variations in the charges depending on the destination of the chargeable... It is worth mentioning however that the air passenger duty is currently non-devolved, meaning that not all countries within the United Kingdom are forcibly obliged to be implementers of the law. For example, it will be noted that in the Scotland and Wales, for example, the United Kingdom government is still undertaking a feasibility study to ascertain the likely effects that devolution would have on these countries; and thus the current study that is being undertaken. As part of the feasibility study and review that is taking place is the consideration on the constitutional and financial arrangements in Wales that would enhance or otherwise detract the successful implementation of the duty. It is therefore expected that by the close of the roles assigned to the commission in charge, known as the Silk Commission, there will be a clear statement on how financial accountability can be improved when the duty is brought into enforcement in Wales. Even more, the package of powers that give a constitutional right for the implementation of the duty shall adequately be considered to ensure that the provisions of the law do not conflict with any existing State legislation. It will be based on the findings that further action will be taken on the devolution of the air passenger duty. As pending is made of the final outcome of the commission’s work, it is important that discussions begin on how the air passenger duty will affect the larger Welsh economy and particularly the air transport industry.

Quantitative Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Quantitative Article Critique - Essay Example It is easily identified in the text, and the authors logically build up to the topic as a significant and viable research topic. The quantitative research method is appropriate for this study because quantitative data can best measure this problem. The hypothesis is also explicitly stated in the research, and it sufficiently expressed the study variables and population. The questions chosen are very much related to the concept behind this research, however, they are not sufficiently supported by related studies. The literature review for this research is integrated into the discussion portion, and therefore the studies are not logically organized in the paper. The studies chosen are appropriate and are from primary sources; however, most of them are not current and are more than five years old. The research design is appropriate for this study. Threats to its validity are discussed, but how these threats were handled was not discussed by the authors. Information from this research is sufficient for replication based on the detailed research methodology. However, there was not enough comparison made with other studies in order to enhance the interpretability of the findings. The conceptual model chosen for this paper relates spinal needle orientation to reduced stay in the hospital, eventually leading to cost containment in surgical procedures. This concept fits the research focus because it succinctly covers the idea or the ‘concept’ behind the research. The population of interest and sample for this study was sufficiently described. Inclusion and exclusion criteria sufficiently narrowed down the sample population. Methods to minimize biases in the sample population were undertaken based on participants excluded for protocol violation and missing data. Data gathering methods used for this paper were appropriate in measuring the research variables. Data to be gathered from the sample population was

Story Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Story - Assignment Example He remembered clearly the summer day when the first case was reported – he was hanging out in his favorite rock bar with Tony, his best friend (in college, they used to dream of rock career, playing KISS and AC/DC covers) and a talented biology teacher at the local school. It was Sunday – and sun was literally scorching that day indeed – and they decided to get a refresh. An urgent phone call from the same guy, Jake, interrupted Jonathan’s leisure: a female body was found in the park, bearing traces of violent murder. Limbs covered with bruises, marks of stifling and†¦ a lily sticking up from her mouth. The town was staggered by this blatant and odd crime, yet the motives weren’t clear. Until the following cases of the same nature did arrange this horror into a logical sequence. Jonathan made a cup of cheap instant coffee – Iris always made delicious drip coffee, adding a drop of rum syrup into it, but he himself was too lazy and exhausted those days. Probably, he was reluctant to do that not only because of listlessness, but even more because of that overwhelming uneasy feeling that tortured him every time he thought of their â€Å"used-to-be† happy marriage and the way it all corrupted. Having slipped on Levi’s jeans and fished a clean shirt out of the wardrobe, Jonathan sat down on a couch and began looking through newspaper clippings arranged carefully in the chronological order. The first one, dated June, 11, said: Jonathan kept skimming through the clippings. The picture was daunting: once in ten days beginning with the 10th of June one young woman was violently murdered – either stifled or stubbed with a knife, and every time a flower was put into her mouth as if a murderer wanted to celebrate her beauty for the last time. Despite his experience, Blade hadn’t encountered anything like this before, yet he was rather decisive in his intention to clarify the case and bring the serial killer to

The Impacts of the Politeness Principle on Foreign Language Term Paper

The Impacts of the Politeness Principle on Foreign Language Acquisition, Geoff Leech - Term Paper Example An example of these words is the word conduct. If the stress is placed on the first syllable, conduct means â€Å"behavior.† But if the stress is placed on the second syllable, the word means â€Å"to carry out.† Plural words also cause difficulty on the part of the learner. It is sometimes very difficult to explain to the learner why some words can be made plural by adding -s and why some cannot. For example, words like monkey can be made plural by adding -s. But the rule cannot be applied to the word money. The teacher should pay attention to these idiosyncracies to help the learner have a clear idea of when and how to use an aspect of the language being studied. As a result, the learner is able to proficiently and efficiently make use of the language and avoid being misunderstood or hurting the feelings of the person he or she is talking to. This is where the politeness principle comes in. The politeness principle which was developed by Geoff Leech is a series of max ims which help explain how politeness operates in conversational exchanges. According to Leech, â€Å" politeness are forms of behavior that establish and maintain comity or the ability of participants in a social interaction to engage in interaction in a friendly social atmosphere(Leech, 2005). Leech uses two terms for referring to two kinds of illocutionary acts. He calls representatives â€Å"assertives† and directives â€Å"impositives† (Leech, 2005). The politeness principle is comprised of six maxims. Each maxim has a sub-maxim which has less importance (Leech, 2005). These are used to show that negative politeness or avoidance of discord is more important than positive politeness or seeking discord. Leech says that not all the maxims are equally important. He also says that speakers may adhere to more than one maxim of politeness at the same time. The Tact Maxim Theoretical Application The first of the maxims is the tact maxim. This maxim aims to minimize cost and maximize benefit to another person (Leech, 2005). Examples of the tact maxim are â€Å"Peel these potatoes†, â€Å" Hand me the newspaper†, and â€Å" Could you possibly answer the phone?†. According to Leech, there are two levels of politeness in the tact maxim. Commands like â€Å"Sit down†, â€Å"Get a cup of water†, and â€Å" Close the door† are considered impolite while requests such as â€Å"Please sit down†, â€Å"Could you kindly get me a glass of water†, and â€Å"Won’t you have another drink† are considered polite. Leech explains that indirect illocutions are more polite because they give the person being addressed to an option of whether or not to obey. Reiter explains in her book Linguistic Politeness in Britain and Uruguay: A Contrastive Study of Requests and Apology that â€Å"politeness is a form of social interaction, a form that mediates between the individual and the social† (Reiter, 2000). She also adds that politeness assumes that each society has its own prescriptive social rules for different cultural contexts (Reiter 2000). Trosborg in her book Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, and Apologies that â€Å"politeness is a pragmatic mechanism in which a variety of structures work together according to the speaker’s attention to achieving smooth communication† (Trosborg, 1995). that Leech also explains that the more indirect

Explosion Essay Example for Free

Explosion Essay Topic Sentence Imo the Norwegian Ship should be blamed most for this incident, for being in too much of hurry, not following sea rules, and the stubbornness of the ship’s captain. EvidenceProof/Quote/Fact/Research| Explain the relevance of this evidence to your thesis statement. How does it support your overall argument? | SOURCE CITATION(Where did you get itfrom? )| Twice the captain of the ship of the Imo Avoided other vessels by passing there starboard side (wrong side). | The captain is already not following the rules of the sea, how do we know it was not completely the Norwegian ships fault. http://thecanadian encyclopedia. com/featured/the-Halifax-explosions | The Imo was 18 hours behind Schedule and Mont Blanc was aSitting duck outside, and Pilot Mont Blanc was astonished to see the Imo advancing at high speeds. | The ship was in a rush to get tothe destination and was speedingon purpose so it could arrive quickerbut the plan had backfired when they saw the other ship in the path they had been taking. | â€Å"Halifax Explosion1917. † Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online school edition. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. , 2013. Web 1 Apr. 2013lt;http://school. eb. om/eb/Article-94438247gt;| There was a flurry of whistles Between the two ships the Norwegian ship did not changeDirection until final moments. | This caused the accident because if they weren’t going the wrong way and wrong speed we could have prevented this from happening And losing so many lives. | http://thecanadian encyclopedia. com/featured/the-Halifax-explosions| ARGUMENT # 2 Topic Sentence

Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms in Aggression

Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms in Aggression Neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression include the roles of the limbic system, serotonin and testosterone. Neural mechanisms in aggression: The Limbic system-inside the brain lies a network of structures known as the limbic system. Within the limbic system, it involves many structures such as the amygdala, cingulate gyrus, fornix and the hypothalamus. The most significant structure is the amygdala because it plays a key role in humans and non-human animals in how an organism responds and assess to environmental challenges and threats therefore is believed to be the main factor in whether we respond aggressively or not. It also is responsible for attaching emotional significance to sensory information. Within the amygdala, its reactivity has proven to be the main indicator of aggressive behaviour. The prefrontal cortex is vital for regulating aggressive responses and social behaviour. However, damage to this prefrontal cortex would lower the inhibition of the amygdala, giving higher levels of aggression. On the other hand, the hypothalamus is responsible for the regulation of the autonomic nervous system, which in turn helps to regulate responses to emotional circumstances. If this structure was to ever become damaged, it would result in an inappropriate aggressive response to a perceived threat. Serotonin serotonin has a key role in aggressive behaviour and is a neurotransmitter with widespread inhibitory effects throughout the brain; it dampens neuronal activity and slows it down. It is also involved in communication impulses between neurons. It has been associated that low levels of serotonin cause an increased risk of aggressive and impulsive behaviour. Serotonin usually prevents stimulation of the amygdala therefore if there are low levels of it within the brain, the amygdala will be more active once stimulated by external events occurring, resulting in the person to make aggression more likely and to act on their impulses. The role of serotonin illustrates itself by the use of drugs that raise the levels of it within the brain such as antidepressants. During trials, antidepressants were found to raise the serotonin levels and shown to reduce impulsive aggression and irritability. This therefore suggests that an increase in the level of serotonin can reduced aggression h owever this may not be the case always. Hormonal mechanisms in aggression: Testosterone is a hormone from the androgen group responsible for the development of masculine features. It also plays a role in helping to regulate areas in the brain to do with social behaviour such as the amygdala and the hippocampus. It is evident that males are generally more aggressive compared to girls. Testosterone is thought to raise the levels of aggression from a young adulthood onwards. It peaks in young adolescent males before then declining with age. Genetic factors in aggression: Twin studies many twin studies have suggested that heritability accounts for approximately 50% of the variance in aggressive behaviour. In a set of monozygotic twins, they share 100% of their genes however in a set of dizygotic twins; they only share on average 50% of their genes. Therefore, we would be expected to find that monozygotic twins would have greater similarities in aggressive behaviour if aggression is mostly influenced by genetic factors. This is because both monozygotic twins and dizygotic twins are raised together in the same environment however monozygotic twins do have a greater degree of genetic similarity than dizygotic factors. Researchers then found that 50% of concordance rates (proportion to which both twins exhibit the same behaviour) was for monozygotic twins and only 19% was for dizygotic twins. This illustrates that it is probably mostly genetically influenced. Adoption studies Adoption studies can help us to determine what the causes of aggression are either from the environment or heredity. Adoption studies compare the rates between adopted children who share behaviours with their adopted parents (who only share the environment with), and the rates between the adopted children who share behaviour with their biological parents (who share their genes but not environment with). If the results show that the concordance rate between the adopted child and their biological parents are high, then it illustrates that their behaviour is genetically influenced. However, if the concordance rates between the adopted child and their adopted parents are high then it suggests that the behaviour is more than likely environmentally influenced. A case to support that behaviour is genetically influenced is when a study was completed in Denmark of over 14,000 adoptions. They found that a huge number of adopted boys that had criminal convictions also had biol ogical fathers with criminal convictions too. The MAOA gene the MAOA gene is a gene responsible for the activity of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A within the brain.   Monoamine oxidases A role is to mop up neurotransmitters once a nerve impulse has been sent from one neuron to the other in the brain. This happens by the neurotransmitter, especially serotonin, being broken down into chemicals that can then be excreted or recycled. This is a process called catabolism. The production of this enzyme is determined by the MAOA gene. If the operation of this gene becomes dysfunctional it can result to abnormal activity of the MAOA enzyme which then further affects the levels of serotonin in the brain. It has been found in studies that violent criminals often have a defect in the gene that produces MAOA. Gene-environment (GxE) interactions Genes do not work on their own but they are crucial influences on aggressive behaviour. Low MAOA gene activity appears to only be related to adult aggression when combined with early traumatic life events.

European Monetary Unions effect on Europe

European Monetary Unions effect on Europe A currency is a form of money and is used when purchasing goods or services. Coins and paper money are both forms of currency. There are different types of currency for each country, for example the UK has the Pound ( £), the USA has the US Dollar ($) and 15 member states of the European Union use the Euro (â‚ ¬). There are other currencies used all around the world. A person can exchange one currency for another but there is a rate at which it must be done, these are called exchange rates. Exchange rates are the rate at which one currency is worth in another currency, for example at todays current exchange rates  £1 will by a person $1.46. Businesses exchange money every day and in large amounts, this effects how much a currency is worth. Businesses exchange money to purchase goods in other countries, if there are a lot of businesses purchasing from one country their currency value will raise. This means the businesses will have to pay more of their currency to import goods. Even though the value of a currency can rise they can also fall in value as well. This happens when a currency is not in demand. Because the value of the currency is high businesses will not import from that particular country because it will be possible to get what they want from another country for less money. This will cause the value to fall. Even though people exchange money when going on holiday they do not play a big part in exchange rate fluctuation, it is businesses which cause the exchange rate of countries to change every day. The exchanges rates have two effects on businesses. One of them is that businesses need them to import and export goods to other countries, without them it is not possible because each country has a different form of type of currency. The other impact is that businesses make the exchange rates fluctuate making it more expensive or cheaper to purchase goods in other countries. The US dollar started to rise in value quite swiftly against the Euro and the Pound between July and September causing the value of the Euro and the Pound to plummet to all time lows. Before the euro was introduced the member states of the EU still used their own currencies, but the exchange rate of these currencies were always fluctuating. Following an Arab-Israeli war in October 1973. Middle Eastern oil production companies forced high prices and restricted sales to certain European countries, consequently this created economic problems throughout the EU. This gave birth to the European Monetary System (EMS). The EMS was an arrangement between the member states to link their currencies to prevent large fluctuations. The essential fundamental of the arrangement was the creation of the exchange rate mechanism (ERM) which was a system to help maintain stability for the currencies of the member states. This was done by setting limits an exchange rate could fluctuate in. The limit was 2.25% (6% for Italy), for example the pounds exchange rate could not increase by more than 2.25% and could not decrease by more than 2.25%. All currency values within the EU were tied t o the German mark because at that time their currency value was the Strongest. This was good economically because business could cope with small fluctuations. But what happened when a countries exchange rate reached its limits? This happened in September 1992 when the UK was forced out of the ERM. The value of the pound was decreasing and the government tried to keep the value within the ERM limits. They raised interest rates from 10% to 12% to 15% in one day and they spent large amounts of other currencies to buy pounds to try and increase the value of the pound. But it did not work and had to leave the ERM. Other currencies in the EU devalued and the French franc was the only currency to successfully defend itself from devaluing. The establishment of the ERM was the first time a single currency was thought possible. The signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1992 was when the EU made it an objective to bring a single currency (The Euro) to pass. The euro was launched in 1999 but only for commercial and financial transactions. Notes and coins were introduced in 2002. There were strict conditions to be met before a country could ascend to the euro. These included targets for inflation, interest rates and government debt. A European central bank was created to set interest rates for all member states that ascended to the euro. With the ongoing integration between the members of the EU and the continuing effort to make the trade of goods, services, people and capital easier, it was only a matter of time until the euro was launched. The ERM was designed to maintain the stability of exchange rates within the EU and was not very successful in doing this, so the EU had to come up with a better idea. This was the euro; this would remove the exchange rates when trading within the EU and make things more simple because businesses didnt have to worry about how much their currency was worth in another currency within the EU. This is also written on http://www.civitas.org.uk/eufacts/FSECON/EC9.htm, it says Yet it was not an entirely successful move because it posed many technical difficulties in setting the correct rate for all member states and because some members were less committed to it than others Introducing the euro was inevitable because the ERM was not very successful in keeping all the exchange change rates within the EU stable and it was an objective for there to be a free movement of capital (money) between the member states of the EU. If there is to be a free movement of capital between the EU they would have to do away with exchange rates and create a currency for the member states to use. There are 5 economic tests for the UK to join the Euro. These were created by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1997, this was Gordon Brown. The tests are a set of conditions the UK has to pass for it to join the Euro. The key notion behind the test is whether the UK is able to handle the same monetary policy as the countries within the Euro zone. The first test is economic harmonisation. If the UK joins the Euro the UK will be in sync with the Euro zone. But if the UK was growing at a faster rate than the EU then the UK interest rates would have to be increased but then that would increase the interest rates of all the other countries within the Euro zone. This is because the interest rates in the Euro zone are controlled by the European Central Bank. But if there were harmonisation there is no guarantee that it would be on a permanent basis. The second test is flexibility and whether there would be enough of it. For example if the UK went into a recession would it be able to cope. The UK would have no authority over monetary policy and fiscal policy would be limited by the growth and stability pact. This would restrict the amount of government borrowing and consequently restrict the scale for expansionary fiscal policy. The third test is investment and the effect the Euro will have on it. Would the Euro create a better setting for firms making long-term decisions to invest in Britain? The fourth test is financial services and what affect the Euro will have on it. What influence would the Euro have over the financial services industry considering Londons financial sector has thrived in recent years would the Euro effect it in a bad way? The last test is growth and employment. Will the Euro encourage higher growth and stability? Also how will it affect employment, will it create a permanent increase in jobs or not? There is no evidence that it would. With all this said will it be in the national interest for the UK to join the Euro? There are advantages to joining the Euro. The advantages are, the Euro would end currency instability within the Euro zone and lower it outside it because the credibility of the Euro would increase because it is being used in most of Europe. Another advantage is people travelling from the UK would not have to exchange their money, encountering fewer restrictions when transferring large sums of money when going across borders. A further advantage is businesses wont have to pay hedging cost to insure themselves against the threat of currency fluctuations. Another advantage is there will be a lower interest rate. Also the stability pact will force EU countries into a system of fiscal responsibility. This will enhance the Euros credibility, which should lead to more investment, jobs and lower mortgages. Even though there are advantages there are also disadvantages to joining the Euro. The disadvantages ar e, if the UK government is required to conform to the stability pact they may be unable to battle a recession using fiscal policy. This is because the government will not be able to borrow as much money or cut taxes. Another disadvantage is the UK will have no control over interest rates as the European Central Bank controls interest rates within the Euro zone. A further disadvantage is the UK will lose its sovereignty. This means that the UK will have to work with other economically weaker countries, which are more tolerant to higher inflation. Another disadvantage is that the transfer between the pound and the Euro will cost a great deal. The British Retailing Consortium estimated that all British retailers will have to pay between  £1.7 billion and  £3.5 billion to make the essential changes. These changes include educating customers, changing labels, training staff, changing computer software and adjusting tills. The last disadvantage is the exchange rate would no longer bal ance Britains trade and capital flow with the rest of the world. It is difficult to say if it would be in the national interest of the UK to join the Euro as there are advantages and disadvantages. But nobody knows what will happen if the UK joins the Euro, we can only predict possibilities. It is wrong to say the UK will never join as there are advantages to joining the Euro but the UK will not be joining anytime soon. [1] http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/12/twelve_month.stm [2] http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/13/twelve_month.stm [3] http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/13/12/twelve_month.stm

Lou Gerhigs Farwell Speech -- Lou Gerhig

Language Analysis of Lou Gehrig’s Farwell Speech to the Yankees   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lou Gehrig was one of the best baseball players to ever play the game. He was blessed with an amazing career playing for the New York Yankees setting many major league records such as 2,130 consecutive games from 1925 to 1939. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and on July 4, 1939 Gehrig stood before his devoted fans at Yankee Stadium and announced that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The man that was known to everyone as the â€Å"Pride of the Yankees†, on this very day, showed how courageous he was by giving a passionate speech to his fans that was filled with sarcasm, emotion, and pride.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gehrig’s speech to the 60,000 fans sitting before him was short but convincing. He wanted to convince his fans that in his eyes this wasn’t a defeat. He proclaimed that he considered himself, â€Å"the luckiest man on the face of the earth.† Language was used to manipulate his fans into seeing the good and not the bad in this tragic situation. Instead of speaking of his illness, Gehrig reminded his fans of all the amazing people he has been able to meet and play for, his loving family, and his record setting career. He starts of the middle two paragraphs of his speech by stating, â€Å"Sure, I’m lucky,† and continues on with remarks about the great men of baseball he has had the opportunity to work with. He continues on at the end of the speech with sarcasm, implying to the audience th...

Price Discrimination Essay -- Economics Economy Profit Finances Essays

Price Discrimination Prices are based upon the price elasticity of demand in each given market. In other terms, this means that during ladies night at the local bar, it costs more for men to have a beer than women simply because these bars find it o.k. to charge females less, as a way to draw more females to the business on a specific night. Price discrimination is part of the commercial and business world. Movie theaters, magazines, computer software companies, and thousands of other businesses have discounted prices for students, children, or the elderly. One important note though, is that price discrimination is only present when the exact same product is sold to different people for different prices. First class vs. coach in an airline (though sometimes just differing in how many free drinks you can get) is not an example of price discrimination because the two tickets, though comparable, are not identical. Price discrimination is based upon the economic thoughts and practice of marginal analysis. This process deals specifically with the differences in revenue and costs as choices and/or decisions are made. Profit maximization is achieved not when the number of products sold is the highest, nor when the price is the highest. Profitability price discrimination is only profitable if and when the given target groups price elasticity of demand differs to the point where the separate prices yield to profit maximization for each given group in question (where marginal revenue equals marginal cost). Groups that are more sensitive to prices, (students and senior citizens for example), have a lower price elasticity of demand and are the ones that are often charged the lower prices for the identical goods or services. The key to price discrimination and using it to fully compliment other economic practices, ultimately achieving the total profit maximization, is the ability to effectively and efficiently collect, analyze, and act upon data gathered about the different groups. First of all, the groups must be accurately identified and the differences between groups must be thought of ahead of time. Children, genders, and senior citizens are easily singled-out by appearance, while military personnel, college students, and other groups must carry some sort of identification. Firms typically will quote the highest prices in advertisements,... ...portunity cost. Price discrimination is a significant and influential practice on the market in the modern economic world. It aids in a firm's profit maximization scheme, it allows certain consumers with more scarce resources the opportunity to purchase goods or services that would otherwise be usable, and it aids firms in balancing what is and what is not sold. Price discrimination is an effective means by which a firm can sell a higher quantity of goods, make a higher profit margin on the goods it sells, and builds a broader consumer base due to differing price elasticity of demand for given goods and services. Price discrimination ultimately equalizes price and value for both the consumer and the firm, creating a more ideal situation for both entities in terms of preference and opportunity cost. Bibliography http://www.wired.com/news/story/18656.html infousa.com/toolkit/home/text/po3_5230.htm www.researchinfo.com/wwwboard/messages/7633.html www.mhht.com/economics/frank4/student/appendixes/appendix4.html agriculture.house.gov/glossary/price_elasticity_of_demand.htm www.nets.kz/ilia.nets.kz/p_text.html www.nd.edu/keating/textbook/chap2/chap2.html

The Departed/Internal Affairs Film Comparison

The Departed, a film directed by Martin Scorsese, won an Oscar for Best Picture, as well as 3 other Academy Awards. The story however, is based on a 2002 Hong Kong film directed by Wai-keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak, Mougaan dou; better known to us as Infernal Affairs. The similarities between these two crime/drama/thrillers are great. In The Departed, director Martin Scorsese takes the story into his own style of storytelling, but the adaptation of the screenplay originally written by director Siu Fai Mak and Felix Chong is almost identical to the screenplay by William Monahan adapted for The Departed. The key overall difference between the two films can be attributed to their setting. Infernal Affairs, based in Hong Kong, was adapted or â€Å"Americanized† to fit American customs and situations, namely the situation in south Boston with the Irish mafia â€Å"some time ago. Neither film specifies an exact historical era. There is an equivalent to most Infernal Affairs characters in The Departed: you have the mole in the Hong Kong IAU (internal affairs unit), Inspector Lau Kin Ming, played by Andy Lau, who is the equivalent to Matt Damon’s role as the mole in the Boston State Police, Colin Sullivan; there’re the undercover cops, Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung Chi Shing) and William Costigan Jr. (Le onardo Di Caprio); there’s the boss of the Hong Kong mafia (the Triads), Hon Sam (Eric Tsang), and the Irish mafioso, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). The head of the Boston State Police is Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen), who is mirrored after SP Wong Chi Shing (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang). There is no real equivalent to Mark Walberg’s character, Staff Sgt. Dignam, but I’m glad they added him. The two films share similar style and techniques; however it is easy to distinguish Scorsese’s directing. Both films make good use of moving shots, which only add to the liveliness of the action. The Departed has virtually no special effects at all, using editing to only to cut and colour correct. Infernal Affairs is similar to that, but makes much more use of fast editing and montage, using slight special effects for transitions and introducing key characters, using a combination of freeze frame and a desaturation filter for instance. Small effects are used in moderation throughout the film to add to the movie’s overall intensity, and makes fast cuts with multiple angles to create emphasis and a fast-paced feel in certain scenes. The overall style of the films is fairly similar: predominant use of medium to long shots, steadicam, tracking, and crane shots can be seen throughout both films. Therefore this Creates fast paced movements and a flow which also generates this overall feel of realism. Both films start relatively the same: the gang boss recruits new, young blood to put through the academy to work as moles for them. Although Costello recruits Sullivan at an earlier age than Sam, they both seem to be raising workers for the same purpose (at the beginning, we see other kids in the car shop with Colin, who can be expected to be there for the same reason), and the stories each focus on Colin (Costello’s mole), Lau (Sam’s mole), Costigan (State Police undercover), and Wing-Yan

Request to Conduct Research

HLM Cruise Lines has been under intense media scrutiny as of late due to our unethical practice of releasing untreated wastewater into the oceans. As the world's second largest cruise company, it should be our duty to protect the waters upon which we sail. Therefore, I would like to be released from my current duties in order to research alternative methods of managing the waste produced on our ships. At the conclusion of my research, a formal report will be provided to you. Significance of this research. As the World becomes more environmentally conscious, there is a demand that the Cruise line industry be held responsible for the environmental damage that our vessels produce. This has caused the federal government to heighten its watch for violators. Gone are the days of lax federal and state laws; heavy fines and suspensions are now the norm. The cruise industry has paid more than $55 million in fines since 1998 (Friends of the Earth, 2009), which makes this research so important to our company. Problem Our Cruise ships generate hundreds of thousands of gallons of human sewage and offer a host of amenities that create pollutants, including dry-cleaning, pools, hair salons, restaurants, photo processing, and spas. In one week alone, our largest cruise ship, â€Å"The Mickey†, can generate approximately 1 million gallons of gray water; 210,000 gallons of sewage; 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water; 100 gallons of hazardous or toxic waste; and 50 tons of garbage and solid waste. This sewage contains pollutants including fecal matter, bacteria, viruses, pathogens, hazardous waste and pharmaceuticals, all of which can be harmful to human health and aquatic life. (Kline, 2009). (Placeholder1)Our current practice of dumping this untreated waste directly into the ocean is wrecking havoc on the ecological systems of the waters we travel. Completed Research I have already researched the preventative methods used by other cruise lines. For example, Celebrity Cruises’ flagship vessel, the Solstice, includes a water filtration system to return all black water and wastewater to near pristine conditions before it is dumped back into the ocean. Royal Caribbean recently invested $100 million into their fleet to convert their onboard wastewater treatment system to an advanced purification system (Underwood, 2010). These examples shows how far behind the power curve we are. Additional Information Researches into â€Å"greener† cruise ships have been going on for several years. EPA believes that solution research might help improve understanding of the quantities of waste generated by cruise ships, impacts of discharges and emissions, and the potential for new control technologies. (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2008) Benefits of the Investigation After having an opportunity to research for alternative methods of waste management, I am confident we will be able to implement methods that are significantly less harmful to the environment than our current process. This would not only benefit the environment, but also boost our public image. We must prove that we are not only concerned about pollution, but also dedicated to preventing it. Conclusion Given the phenomenal growth in our industry and the potential for increasing impacts on the marine environment, I believe it is our duty to continue to look for new, more environmentally friendly ways to manage our ship’s waste. Making smart environmental choices can also be economical. Remember, it is always cheaper and easier to clean up pollution at the source. After it has dispersed throughout the environment, the costs of cleanup, remediation, and disciplinary fees are many magnitudes higher. I would like to begin the research one week from now on Thursday, June 28, 2013. Please inform me of the approval and/or disapproval status by Tuesday, June 23. I may be reached by telephone at (0310) 777-9311 or by email at [email  protected] com. Thank you.

Understanding The Y2k Bug

As the Millennial sun rose over human civilization, in the independent republic of Kiribati, a group of some thirty low lying coral islands in the Pacific Ocean that straddle the equator and the International Date Line, the reality of the Y2K bug became apparent. This long awaited sunrise marks the dawn of the year 2000. Kiribati's 81,000 Micronesians observed nothing different about this dawn, they only received TV in 1989. (y2ksupply.com) However, those who live in a world that relies on satellites, air, rail and ground transportation, manufacturing plants, electricity, heat, telephones, or TV, experienced a true millennial shift, or not. We finally saw the extent of the networked and interdependent processes we had created. At the stroke of midnight, the new millenium closed the greatest challenge to modern society we have responded to yet. We didn†t experience this event, as chaos or social transformation. I am describing the year 2000 problem, known as Y2K (K signifying 1000). Nicknamed at first â€Å"The Millennial Bug,† increasing sensitivity even escalated the nickname to â€Å"The Millennial Bomb.† The problem begins as a simple technical error. Large mainframe computers more than ten years old were not programmed to handle a four digit year. Sitting here now, safely in the year 2000, it seems incomprehensible that computer programmers and microchip designers didn't plan for it. Programmers did whatever was required to get a product up and working; no one even thought about standards. This computer bug has been predicted to impact the world anywhere from a minor problem to the end of a civilization. Whichever view you took on the subject it is clear that this bug had a definite impact on the economy. Whichever view anyone took on this issue, didn†t really matter because the point is that everyone thought about it and dealt with the issue in his or her own way. In order to understand the Y2K bug we must first understand what it is. For many years electronic storage was very expensive. In the early days of computing a Megabyte or a million bytes of information could have cost up to $100,000 to store electronically. This same amount of information storage can now cost around ten cents. (Barr) Many programs that are date sensitive will react to this bug in a negative way. A good example of a problem that could occur due to the bug would be that of banking software. In that case one of the software†s functions would be to bill all of its customers with outstanding loans. This program works by sending the bill progressively every month until the loan is paid off. If the computer were to think that it was the year 1900 then none of these loans would have even been made yet and the computer would become unstable or cease to function. Much of this software can be repaired or replaced with new versions, however, some of it is not as easily replaced. A great deal of the code that is causing worry at the moment is actually imbedded in automated machinery. This code can†t be repaired, except by replacing the machinery itself. This code is in many of the machines that run companies, public utilities, and are even in our homes in such appliances as VCRs. This calculation problem explains why the computer system at Marks & Spencer department store in London destroyed tons of food during the process of doing a long-term forecast. The computer read 2002 as 1902. Instead of four more years of shelf life, the computer calculated that this food was ninety-six years old. It ordered it thrown out. A similar problem happened recently in the U.S. at the warehouse of a freeze-dried food manufacturer. In September 1998, Datamation magazine estimated that, on average, about 7% of all electronics are date sensitive and In November 1998, PCWeek, another leading trade journal, put the number at 5%. (Gibbons) The main emphasis seems to systems with many chips all working on real time clocks such as manufacturing plants. These systems were estimated at up to 30% not compliant with the Y2K problem. Companies with these systems have had trouble being ready for Y2K because in order to prepare for the problem the affected chips have to be isolated and repaired. In a system with thousands of these chips and little documentation on each one, this is an almost impossible chore. Replacing entire systems can cost millions of dollars and many companies can†t afford the cost of the repair. Billions of dollars were spent preparing for this event and much more will be spent in recovery. Most companies have been addressing the problem for the past few years. Very rarely do we get the chance to watch the entire industry lifecycle, from introduction in the early 90†³s and the decline and death of the industry in the early months of 2000. The entire industry has opened up just to deal with this problem. In the US most mission critical equipment was tested before 1999 and was either compliant or repaired. The systems that caused most concern were things like power grids, telephone networks, and air and land traffic controllers. These systems were of such great concern because some of these computers systems and networks have existed since the late 1950†³s. The fact was that no one could afford to entirely replace these systems, they had to be upgraded to be compliant. What was the impact on Government, Industry, and Small Business? There are several impacts to Government, Industry, and Small Business. Dates that can impact the leap year algorithms, boolean dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. There are separate ramifications to the new dates. For the Government, the dates have a major impact across the board. Every Government agency, from Federal to City, will be impacted. The Federal Government uses computers on a daily basis and without them, the Federal Government is not able to operate. Some specific examples are in the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice. The Department of Commerce utilizes computers to run the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) systems that are used to chase Hurricanes. The problem is that several of the computers are used to log different data and use date/time stamping with that data. This data is later analyzed to try and map hurricanes for the future. If the Y2K issues are not resolved, important data will be lost. The Department of Defense also uses computers to a very large extent. This is especially true for the DOD large complex machinery used to defend the country. There are very few parts of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines that do not use computers. Computers are the backbone to DOD and without them, there is a real fear that our armed forces would not be able to defend this country. (Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense) The Department of Justice has an even worse problem. They are charged with keeping track of criminals and federal indictments across the country. Because of the complexity of the laws, if the computers used to keep track of indictments and criminal records are not Y2K compliant, then the Justice system could have criminals cleared of any wrong doing because of a simple date issue. It is well known that if the date or address were wrong on an indictment or a search warrant, anything found because of the indictment or warrant could not be used in court. (Cohen) The Government agency that has had the most influence on the whole Y2K issue was the Internal Revenue Service. Basically the IRS has the greatest concern because they are charged with the duty of collecting revenue from the taxpayers in order to run the country. The theory is that the IRS, through Congress, could influence or scare business, banks, and individuals into awareness. (Chandrasekaran) This awareness translated into the hundred billion or so expenditures that banks, businesses, and individuals spent on being Y2K compliant. Industry had the same basic problems that the Government had. They rely on computers in almost every aspect of the business. From robotic assembly lines to employee payroll, all of industry relies on the computer to run its day to day operation. (Gwynne) The problem that both industry and Government have is that there was no contingency to the Y2K issue. Both industry and Government have several backup systems. The problem with small business is that they rely on the computer to do many of the tasks that employees used to do. In small business, people were employed to handle payroll, marketing, office management, files, record keeping, and profit/loss ledgers. These people were replaced with the advent of the computer. Now any small business could operate without minimal employees. The office manager could now handle payroll, marketing, files, records, and ledgers right on the computer. The computer became the key piece of equipment for the small business. Without the computer, small businesses could not stay in operation. Most small businesses have become dependent on the computer to replace employees. Without a computer, small businesses would need to hire additional personnel and return to paper and pencil to operate. An example may be Nations Bank; it may have its primary mainframe computer, for all its checking accounts, in one central place. There is a hot backup (a hot backup is a main frame computer that records the same exact information that the mainframe computer is recording, but it does not handle any transactions, just records the information) that is located in a different part of the country, say Colorado. In this way, if a major disaster were to devastate California, the hot backup would come on line take over the responsibility of the mainframe. (McMahon) In this way, vital information would not be lost. This was all thought out years before Y2K. Y2K would impact both mainframes (the primary and the backup) and all the data would be corrupted. What did Government, Industry, and Small Business do to combat the Y2K Issues? For both Government and Industry, it was not be a problem to combat Y2K. Both areas, through consulting agencies and internal working groups, developed a series of plans to combat the Y2K issue. The standard procedure is to first do an inventory and assessment on the agency. After the assessment is made, a renovation plan is developed to renovate the different systems. After renovation, a validation phase, where the renovation is tested using the different Y2K dates to ensure that no problems were encountered. The implementation phase is to implement the system into action, and begin watching the system during the actual crossover dates. The cost to perform all of the plans and phases are high. On most major DOD systems, the cost ranges from $100,000 to over $5 Million. For industry, their costs are about the same. It does not matter if the agency does it internally or hires consultants to perform the work. The consumer and/or taxpayer absorb the high costs in industry and/or Government caused by the expenditure on solving Y2K issues. Industry passed the costs to the consumer by increasing its price on the product. The Government modified the budget to get the necessary funds to ensure Y2K compliance. The real problem lies with small business. The plans and phases that were developed by industry and Government must also be accomplished by small business. The problem is that small business does not have the money to expend on the Y2K issue. Small businesses do not have the overhead or capital to afford to test its systems and ensure that Y2K problems do not exist in its machine. This is where the actual computer industry comes into the scene. Since most small businesses do not rely on consultants and do not have a computer expert on the payroll, then small businesses must rely on the software companies to ensure that the computer is Y2K compliant. Marketers quickly recognized the fact that many small businesses would be forced to purchase new hardware, software, and peripherals. Marketers were not afraid to sell replacement equipment that was not affected by this bug. Consultants profited on the fact that many individuals and small businesses were very ignorant on the issue at hand and how many individuals had little to no knowledge of what was occurring in the machine that they were using. Many of these machines could have been upgraded with a small BIOS chip that would allow the machine to function with the new date format. Application software that is used with Windows 98 may not be compliant, making the system non-compliant. Microsoft could not be held responsible for other software packages built by other software companies. In addition, most software companies will not support older versions of its software. An example is that Microsoft does not support Windows version 3.1. This is based on the availability of newer versions of Windows being available to the consumer. So where does this leave the small business? There is Federal and Local assistance available to help small business ensure that the Y2K issue is resolved prior to the actual dates. If the small business did not recognize that it has a problem, then it could not work to fix the Y2K issue in time. By combining their resources and working with the local support, a network of consultants could work together to fix the problem before the actual Y2K dates came. Here it is April 3, 2000, and the lights are on, there†s plenty of water, and the stock market is at a record high. There is widespread suspicion that the Y2K computer bug was no more than the media overreacting and getting people excited for nothing, and Y2K was a big dud. There may be some validity to this theory, but I think the fact is that the problem was reduced by our efforts in making all computers Y2K compliant. Some people believe that disruptions may still occur in coming days as government and industry resume full operations following the minor problems that either were overlooked or were unanticipated. I think the investment in Y2K upgrades, which totaled an estimated $100 billion just in the United States, kept the most important computer systems running. The most serious malfunction so far was when the Defense Department computers temporarily failed to communicate with a reconnaissance satellite. Officials did not acknowledge the breakdown to the media until seven hours after it was discovered, in order not to cause people to panic about one relatively minor Y2K related computer failure. Considering the seriousness with which not only the Pentagon but also almost all other companies took to the possibility of a Y2K malfunction, I doubt that it could have amounted from hype alone. Part of the Y2K panic, of course, came from the fear that computers would do bazaar things such as transfer all our money from our accounts into someone else†s account, or traffic lights would make errors and cause terrible accidents. I agree that that is hype that amounted from the media twisting and predicting the results of Y2K without basing their information on facts.

Adolescents How Society Affects Them

As we all already know that adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood, generally referring to a period ranging from age 11 and 19. Adolescence has many psychological and social stages, as well as biological. Because it is filled with constant changes and uncertainty, the risks of losing the sight of the right path is quite high. Let me talk about how and who affects them.As children grow, develop, and move into early adolescence, involvement with one's peers increases. In order to be included in a group of friends they are easily swayed to do something wrong.They are faced with decisions to try new things, such as drugs, changing fashion, slang words, alcohol, sex etc.   The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and availability (Cotterell, 135).   Peers are the ones who most frequently initiate one another into drug use.Family members are the most important source of peer pressure. I bel ieve family is the most influential foundation for several reasons. For one, peer pressure is encountered first at home. The mother and father play the biggest role in our lives because they teach their children right from wrong.For example, as a child my parents would always warn me about a girl whom I hung out with and lived in my neighborhood. They advised me a million times to not associate with her because they thought she was â€Å"bad news.†Similarly, religious institutions are another great source of influence. The young adults that participate in religious institutions, come from families which are not into drugs, alcohol, violence, or any sort of crime. So the effects these religious institutions have are great on young people in society.Religious adolescents can encourage one another to be successful in school, sports, and other activities. In my own past experiences when growing up, the people I have chosen as friends weren’t always the coolest, or craziest , but they were always good for their word. These types of friends are valuable for positive peer pressure and are important to keep.Friends, as it is seen, are a major source of peer pressure that one encounters when growing up. I believe from past experiences, friends have the strongest influence on us.   The effects from our friends can sometimes be really good or truly bad.If one friend brings the bottle to the hang out and tells another teen to try it because it is â€Å"so cool,† he or she will experiment with it not knowing what effects it can lead to. One of the reasons that our society finds it difficult to handle teen’s drug use is because adolescent culture does not consist of â€Å"one uniform, homogeneous group.† (Miller, 107).Teens and children are also having sex at a young age because most of their friends may be doing the same thing.   They want to fit in and be part of the â€Å"in-crowd† so they will not follow what they feel is rig ht and so they will take part in sexual behavior in order to be â€Å"cool.†Sex is just one issue that adolescents are faced with. Consumption of alcohol is another factor that can lead to bad decisions based on the friendships that they make.Choosing the friends one hangs out with can sometimes be difficult.   Even though we know what is right from wrong we still have the tendency to do the wrong thing.Even though there are a lot of negative effects from friend’s influences, there are just as many positive effects too. I believe the right friends can push one to doing the right things such as belonging to a soccer team or joining the band club.In conclusion, peer pressure is always surrounding us and affecting us. Our friends, family members, and religious institutions are the main sources in which peer pressure comes from.With the proper guidance and right choice of friends, one will not have any trouble with life’s difficult decisions, and will hopefully do the right thing when faced with difficult problems. Adolescence is a powerful time in one's life with an array of chances to ruin a bright future, so I guess forewarned is forearmed.ReferencesCotterell, John.   Social Networks and Social Influences in Adolescence.   New York:   Thomson.   1996.Miller, Michelle, Alberts, Jess, Hecht, Jess, and Robert Krizek.   Adolescent Relationships and Drug Use.   London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.   2000.National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov

Adertising Agencies

Table of Content Advertising3 Industry Snapshot4 Nature of the Industry5 Media7 In-film advertising9 Work Environment10 Personal characteristics11 Employment avenues12 Public service advertising12 Regulation13 Copyright14 Advertising Agency15 History of ad agency17 Advertising Process19 Typical work flow in agency19 Types of advertising agencies20 The functions of an advertising agency:23 The Benefits of Using an Advertising Agency23 Advertising Agency's Role24 Services offered by ad agency25 Departments & Personnel28 Account Services / Account Management28 Account planner / Director28 Account Supervisor29 Account executives29 Creative department30 Art Directors30 Copywriter31 Digital Studio34 DTP Artist34 Visualizer34 Media Department35 FUNCTIONS OF THE MEDIA DEPARTMENT35 Marketing Research Department37 Creative Services Department38 Event Management and Promotion department38 Traffic Manager (system administrator)38 Radio & TV Broadcast Production Department39 Print Production Department40 Agency Personnel41 Production Team41 Storyboard artist41 Graphic designer42 Advertising interns43 Job Positions and Earnings44 Agency Compensation45 Impact of technology on advertising46 Common software used by ad agency47 Adobe Photoshop48 QuarkXPress48 Autodesk Maya49 Adobe Flash50 CorelDRAW51 Computer-aided design (CAD)52 Famous advertising agencies in world53 Ogilvy & Mather India54 Overview54 Network55 Key people56 Services offered56 Major Clients57 Indian ad legends58 Large vs. Small Agencies62 Workforce for ad agency63 Study / Training & Advancement64 Courses / Institutions66 Future68 Outlook69 Myth: An agency always helps to sell a product70 Case study71 Advertising creative75 Conclusion76 Bibliography & Webliograpy77 Advertising Advertising, generally speaking, is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually performed by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. Advertising involves the process where in a massage is designed so as to promote a product, a thought, an idea or even a service. The concept of advertising has assumed a dynamic form with the use of the various mediums of communication. From the newspaper, magazines, posters, neon and fluorescent signboards, billboards to the commercial on TV, laser shows to inflated high-rise figures and objects, advertising has come a long way. The work is formidable as it spearheads a process intended to attract, modify, change and influences public opinion. From the local business to multinational firm and all need to advertise. While politicians, social organizations, government special groups need to advertise their motto, national airlines, auto mobile manufactures, food and consumer goods manufacturers have to reach the consumer. Specialist products and services are often advertised through trade magazines and exhibitions. Lately mail-shots, handbill circulation, special offers have become very popular. There are still other ways of advertising. There are window displays, display on telephone directories, transit sign on buses, lamp posters, banners, etc. Advertising through the electronic media has been perhaps the most popular medium. Advertising, as an effective medium, uses a variety of techniques to create effective advertisements. A basic appeal is at the heart of advertising. Slogans and product characters are created to catch the attention of the viewers. Most winning advertisements would encompass factual information with emotional appeal. The advertising industry has three major sectors. †¢ Business or organization which wishes to advertise, †¢ Media which provides the medium for advertising and †¢ Ad-agency which creates the ad to suit the need of the firm. Ad agencies vary in the size and turnover. Nevertheless the process of creating an ad remains the same. The annual expenditure on the advertising has been to the tune of Rs 8000 crores and the figure could be higher. USA has projected media spending on advertising on the net to approximately $7700 by the turn of the century. The scope for advertising professionals certainly shows an upward trend. Industry Snapshot According the Advertising Age's 2002 Agency Report, the world's six largest advertising agencies accounted for over 65 percent of $39. 28 billion spent on advertising worldwide in 2001. But the advertising industry has suffered during the first years of the 2000s. The economy decline prior to and exacerbated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 has been sustained by the ongoing conflict with Iraq. As an indicator of the softened demand for advertising services, advertising agency employment fell to just over 180,000 in December 2002, down from an average employment of 194,400 in 2001 and 182,400 in 2002, representing the largest decline since 1991. Advertising agencies are primarily responsible for two functions. The first is the production of advertising materials in the form of written copy, art, graphics, audio, and video. The second is the strategic placement of the finished creative product in various media outlets, such as periodicals, newspapers, radio, and television. Advertising agencies can be found throughout the United States, with the greatest percentage located in large cities. Many have headquarters in New York and field offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, and other major areas of commerce in order to be close to clients. Although the larger agencies are more frequently mentioned in the media and in trade publications, the industry is actually predominately comprised of smaller agencies, many with only one or two principals. Industry bservers credit lower overhead, diversified services, willingness to accommodate change, and an entrepreneurial attitude for the success of smaller, boutique agencies. As many clients have begun to focus on a variety of forms of marketing communications, advertising agencies have had to look beyond conventional media-based advertising. Advertising budgets reflect this shift, with additional dollars being earmarked for point-of-sale promotions, public relations, and a major entry in to the media mix—the Internet. Changing demographics and a savvy American consumer were the driving forces behind these alternative forms of marketing communications. Some industry leaders have projected that advertising agencies will need to augment their primary line of work and change their longstanding compensation system based on commissions. Realizing the need for â€Å"integrated marketing services,† many agencies have responded by offering public relations, direct mail, promotional, and Internet services. Nature of the Industry Firms in the advertising and public relations services industry prepare advertisements for other companies and organizations and design campaigns to promote the interests and image of their clients. This industry also includes media representatives—firms that sell advertising space for publications, radio, television, and the Internet; display advertisers—businesses engaged in creating and designing public display ads for use in shopping malls, on billboards, or in similar media; and direct mail advertisers. A firm that purchases advertising time (or space) from media outlets, thereafter reselling it to advertising agencies or individual companies directly, is considered a media buying agency. Divisions of companies that produce and place their own advertising are not considered part of this industry. Most advertising firms specialize in a particular market niche. Some companies produce and solicit outdoor advertising, such as billboards and electric displays. Others place ads in buses, subways, taxis, airports, and bus terminals. A small number of firms produce aerial advertising, while others distribute circulars, handbills, and free samples. Groups within agencies have been created to serve their clients’ electronic advertising needs on the Internet. Online advertisements link users to a company’s or product’s Web site, where information such as new product announcements, contests, and product catalogs appears, and from which purchases may be made. Some firms are not involved in the creation of ads at all; instead, they sell advertising time or space on radio and television stations or in publications. Because these firms do not produce advertising, their staffs are mostly sales workers. Companies often look to advertising as a way of boosting sales by increasing the public’s exposure to a product or service. Most companies do not have the staff with the necessary skills or experience to create effective advertisements; furthermore, many advertising campaigns are temporary, so employers would have difficulty maintaining their own advertising staff. Instead, companies commonly solicit bids from ad agencies to develop advertising for them. Next, ad agencies offering their services to the company often make presentations. After winning an account, various departments within an agency—such as creative, production, media, and research—work together to meet the client’s goal of increasing sales. Widespread public relations services firms can influence how businesses, governments, and institutions make decisions. Often working behind the scenes, these firms have a variety of functions. In general, firms in public relations services advise and implement public exposure strategies. Firms in public relations services offer one or more resources that clients cannot provide themselves. Usually this resource is expertise in the form of knowledge, experience, special skills, or creativity; but sometimes the resource is time or personnel that the client cannot spare. Clients of public relations firms include all types of businesses, institutions, trades, and public interest groups, and even high-profile individuals. Clients are large and small for-profit firms in the private sector; State, local, or Federal Governments; hospitals, universities, unions, and trade groups; and foreign governments or businesses. In an effort to attract and maintain clients, advertising and public relations services agencies are diversifying their services, offering advertising as well as public relations, sales, marketing, and interactive media services. Advertising and public relations service firms have found that highly creative work is particularly suitable for their services, resulting in a better product and increasing their clients' profitability. Media Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards , street furniture components, printed flyers, radio, cinema and television ads, web banners, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of buses, taxicab doors and roof mounts, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers on apples in supermarkets, the opening section of streaming audio and video, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an â€Å"identified† sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising. Covert advertising embedded in other entertainment media is known as product placement. A more recent version of this is advertising in film, by having a main character use an item or other of a definite brand – an example is in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character Tom Anderton owns a computer with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format and this is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience. More controversially, virtual billboards may be inserted into the background where none existing in real-life. Virtual product placement is also possible. Increasingly, other mediums such as those discussed below are overtaking television due to a shift towards consumer's usage of the Internet. Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of Web-based advertising space are dependent on the â€Å"relevance† of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives. E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known as â€Å"spam†. Profile of major advertising mediums MEDIUM |ADVANTAGES |LIMITATIONS | |Newspapers |Flexibility; timeliness; good local market coverage; |Short life; poor reproduction quality; small | | |broad acceptance; high believability. |pass along audience. | |Television |Combines sight, sound and motion; appealing to the |High absolute cost, high clutter, fleeting | | |senses; high attention; high reach. exposure, less audience selectivity | |Direct mail |Audience selectivity, flexibil ity, no ad competition |Relatively high cost, junk mail image. | | |within the same medium, personalization. | | |Radio |Mass use, high geographical and demographic |Audio presentation only; lower attention than | | |selectivity; low cost. |television; non standardized rate structure; | | | |fleeting exposure. |Magazines |High geographical and demographic selectivity; |Long ad purchase lead time; some waste | | |credibility and prestige; high quality reproduction, |circulation; no guarantee of position. | | |long life; good pass-along readership. | | |Outdoor |Flexibility; high repeat exposure; low cost; low |Limited audience selectivity; creative | | |competition. |limitation. | |Brouchers |Flexibility; full control; can dramatize message. Overproduction could lead to run away costs. | In-film advertising In-film advertising used to mean a couple of product billboards placed behind the hero's car, Till Taal came along. That's the film that put Coke — and product placements à ¢â‚¬â€ firmly in the plot. In-film advertising has only gathered more fans since. It's not just the colas, brands like Hero Honda, Bru, and Fair & Lovely have got into the act. It has become a well-thought out and legitimate part of a brand's marketing plan, and as the film industry gets more corporatised, it's likely to get more popular. This season's got a blockbuster hitting the screen, with all the attendant song, dance and scandal. Kaante stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Kumar Gaurav, Lucky Ali and Mahesh Manjrekar — and Thums Up. Coke's paid Sanjay Gupta, the film's producer, to feature the cola in some scenes — rumours put the figure at Rs 4 crore, but Coca-Cola, as well as the producer, say it isn't so — and it's also airing promos for the film that incorporate the Thums Up brand. Leo Entertainment, the film marketing division of Leo Burnett, is working with White Feather Productions in their marketing efforts. Work Environment Ad agencies are based within office settings. Accounts Executives, Account Planers, Media Executives, Art Directors and Copywriters spend most of their working time in agency office. Account Executives have to travel extensively, visiting clients and suppliers. While other staff, travel occasionally to attend meetings with clients, or visit locations during film production. Ad agencies are very busy places and often work is on till late hours. In 2004, workers in the industry averaged 33. 8 hours per week, a little higher than the national average of 33. . Most employees in advertising and public relations services work in comfortable offices operating in a teamwork environment; however, long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common. There are fewer opportunities for part-time work than in many other industries; in 2004, 14 percent of advertising and public relations employees worked part time, compared with 16 percent of all workers. Work in advertising an d public relations is fast-paced and exciting, but it also can be stressful. Being creative on a tight schedule can be emotionally draining. Some workers, such as lobbyists, consultants, and public relations writers, frequently must meet deadlines and consequently may work long hours at times. Workers, whose services are billed hourly, such as advertising consultants and public relations specialists, are often under pressure to manage their time carefully. In addition, frequent meetings with clients and media representatives may involve substantial travel. Most firms encourage employees to attend employer-paid time-management classes, which help reduce the stress sometimes associated with working under strict time constraints. Also, with today’s hectic lifestyle, many firms in this industry offer or provide health facilities or clubs to help employees maintain good health. Personal characteristics People in the accounts or client servicing i. e. , the Account Executives, Director and planer need to be adept at negotiating. The ability to communicate easily is vital. They face the challenge of competing in the market with other agencies; hence need to have drive determination and tremendous physical and mental stamina. Sensitivity to consumer behavior, trends and human nature are important for success in advertising. They should be able to assimilate the client’s requirements and in a lucid style prepare briefs for other departments. The ability to get the work executed by all departments is specially required. The creative people need a good visual ability, languageartistic skill. Copywriter requires literary ability but an interest in commercial success which comes from understanding what motives the target audience is important. Writers must be able to work, to a strict brief, within restricted space and in limited time. Advertising must follow legal requirements and rules hence considerable creative self-discipline is needed. A feeling for words, economy of style and imagination is needed. The copywriter works with the art director, and the creative director. The work can be very frustrating particularly when an idea is rejected by the art director and amendments made by the creative director and the client. This can often restrict the imaginative capacity of the copywriter. The openness to stand criticism is absolutely essential. Media Executives, Planners and Executive directors with others in an integrated team. They should be able to interplant a great deal of information. Media buyers spend most of their time negotiating over the telephone to buy space or time. Attention to detail is needed for keeping to the budget allocated. Employment avenues The business of advertising has been growing in proportion to the national economy. Greater competition between domestic and multinational firms has spurred marketing and advertising efforts. Competition for these jobs is growing. Creative college graduates with communication skills will get the best jobs. Job opportunities are in advertising agencies, commercial radio and public, Multinational firms, advertising/PR department of organisations/business/government. Advertising agencies have the highest profile in a much larger advertising industry, composed of various media, advertisers, printers, photographers, typesetters, and others that act as suppliers to the industry. Accordingly, agencies attract most of the people who want to get into advertising. Generally speaking, an agency is not the place to start an advertising career until the candidate has acquired two sorts of knowledge not available in most academic institutions. First, an extremely good working knowledge of how a wide variety of businesses work is necessary, for agencies serve so many kinds of clients. Second, one must develop good interpersonal business skills to be successful in the agency industry, and these skills are usually developed only in on-the-job experiences. Public service advertising The same advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as AIDS, political ideology, energy conservation, religious recruitment, and deforestation. The Government of India has for a long time relied considerably on the talents of the Advertising Agency and the Advertising Agencies Association of India for social causes. Family Planning is the most successful campaign for a social cause by any advertising agency. Advertising, in its non-commercial guise, is a powerful educational tool capable of reaching and motivating large audiences. Regulation There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and the reach of advertising. Some examples are the ban on television tobacco advertising imposed in many countries. The general aim of such codes is to ensure that any advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful. Some self-regulatory organizations are funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent of upholding the standards or codes. In India there is Advertising Agency’s Association of India (AAAI) that supervises the affairs of the industry. There is a body called Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which looks at issues pertaining to regulation of advertising. The advertising of controversial products such as cigarettes and condoms is subject to government regulation in many countries. For instance, the tobacco industry is required by law in India and Pakistan to display statutory warnings cautioning consumers about the health hazards of their products. Some potential ETHICAL ISSUES often come under scrutiny form moral or ethical perspective and border on being regulated are mentioned here. The idea is to be more aware and sensitive to them looking at advertising. †¢ Untruthful and misleading claims made in the ads. Misrepresentation of facts or situations in the name of creative license. †¢ Obscenity and misuse of sex advertising. †¢ Advertising inducing children †¢ Advertising of products that are commonly assumed to have harmful effects like alcohol, cigarette, drugs, weapons, etc. †¢ Surrogate advertising with hinted or hidden message. †¢ Media issues like use of billboards and other outdoor advertising (f or traffic & safety reasons) †¢ Copyright, trademark and issues of making unfair competitive claims. †¢ Civil rights or rights of privacy or citizens Copyright Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally â€Å"the right to copy† an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms or â€Å"works†. These include poems, plays, and other literary works, movies, choreographic works, musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts of live and other performances, and, in some jurisdictions, industrial designs. Copyright law covers only the particular form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the â€Å"form of material expression†. It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work. Several exclusive rights typically attach to the holder of a copyright: †¢ to produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies (including, typically, electronic copies) †¢ to import or export the work to create derivative works (works that adapt the original work) †¢ to perform or display the work publicly †¢ to sell or assign these rights to others Ad agency is supposed to follow the rules and regulations of copyright laws while creative ads for any product they must see that the concepts are not fully copied from somewhere else. Advertising Agency Getting the best out of advertising is a highly skilled job. It requires the inputs of e xperts in many different fields like writers, artists, photographers, designers, television production crews and many others. Even the biggest advertisers cannot afford to employ all these experts. Almost all advertising is therefore arranged through an advertising agency which provides the necessary skill to turn the message into a memorable and effective advertisement. Advertising has not only come to reflect pop culture but has also become an important element of economic growth. Today, every person connected with the Indian economy or public should be fully aware what advertising really is and why effective advertising campaigns can be performed by full-service advertising agencies. Advertising agency is one of the most important components of advertising industry. It has played a significant role in the development of modern advertising. The advertising agency has evolved to provide the specialized knowledge, skills and experience needed to produce effective advertising campaigns. It provides a quality range of service greater than any single advertiser could afford or would need to employ. An advertising agency is a firm that specializes in the creation, design and placement of advertisements, and in the planning and execution of promotional campaigns for products and services of their clients. The Association of Advertising Agencies of America (AAAA) defines advertising agency as â€Å"An independent business organization composed of creative and business people who develop, prepare and place advertising media for sellers seeking to find customers for their goods and services. † The glamour, the unlimited expense accounts, and the exhilarating lifestyle – all these popular portraits of life in the big-time advertising agency are misleading. Advertising is demanding, challenging, hard work. It is also interesting and fulfilling. Advertising requires a mix of personal abilities, considerable business skills, and an ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines. Compared to larger industries, there are never many entry-level positions open in advertising agencies (dozens rather than hundreds). And competition is stiff. The industry, however, is constantly on the look out for skilled, bright, articulate, creative and personable men and women with a well-rounded education and a good business sense. An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for their clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotions for its clients. Typical ad agency clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Agencies may be hired to produce single ads or, more commonly, ongoing series of related ads, called an advertising campaign. History of ad agency 1. Period of early growth 1841 – 1865. The first advertising agency on record in the US was Olney B. Palmer. In 1841, Palmer organized a newspaper advertising and subscription agency. By 1849 he had established offices in the cities of New York, Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia. At this early fate, there were no directions of newspapers and no published rates for space to be sold to advertisers. Palmer acted as an informatory agent in these matters to prospective advertisers. In essence, he served as a salesman of space for publishers and they in turn, gave him a commission of 25% of such sales. The publishers found these methods of selling more effective than trying to sell direct and advertisers, wishing to reach more than one territory found value in such service. Completion increased, and the usual price cutting occurred. Success seemed to depend upon one’s ability to bargain with the publisher and advertiser. The natural result of this policy was a general reduction in profits to the agency; this led to a search for new competitive tools which would return a profit. 2. Wholesaling Period 1865 – 1880 George P. Rowell, who opened an agency in 1865, supplied the new competitive tool. Rowell contracted with 100 newspapers to sell him a column of space each week for a year. Throughout the wholesaling period, the agent continued as a seller of space for publishers. This took on different forms, one of which was the exclusive right to sell space in certain publishers. Thus, one agency developed a controlled list of religious papers, another a â€Å"List of Thirsty† household magazines. Any advertiser wishing to buy space in the controlled publications was forced to buy through the exclusive wholesaler for that paper. . Semi Service Period 1880 – 1917 The wholesaling phase of agency work was checked when publishers began to establish their own sales departments for selling space. Some of these departments sold direct to the advertiser, others to the general advertising agency. Thus, the agency was forced to turn its attention somewhat away from the particular function of s elling space for publisher and toward the function of buying space for the advertiser. Early in the semi service period agencies offered to write the copy for the advertiser, thus giving added weight to their claim of being servants of the advertiser. This concept of service was slow to develop; but in the early part of the 20th century, agencies began to emphasize strongly this â€Å"free† service. One agency in 1905 advertised that it paid $28,000 a year for a copywriter. These methods increased the agency business and forced most space sales to be made through them. 4. Service Period 1917 – Present By 1917 the idea of service had grown until not only was copywriting done for the advertiser but many other things as well. During the service period, many agencies have grown to the position of advertising and marketing counselors for advertiser. The service elements has modified the position of agencies to such a degree that radio and television, network and magazine publishers have come to depend upon them as the primary channel through which time and space are sold. Publishers claim to have had an important part in encouragements of agencies to provide extra service to the advertiser. By providing advertisers with the kind of assistance that will improve the effectiveness of advertising, more time and space naturally will be sold. Advertising Process When preparing your search proposal, you should take into account that the â€Å"lead-in† time needed to place an ad can vary anywhere from days to months depending on the publication. You should plan to have your ad approved and an estimate of the cost done at least one month prior to the date when you want the ad to be published. The advertising process for professional staff and faculty positions involves five basic steps: 1. Writing an Ad 2. Getting Approval for the Text of the Ad 3. Estimating the Cost of the Ad 4. Placing Ads & Posting Announcements 5. Paying for Ads Typical work flow in agency STAGE |WORK PERFORMED AT STAGE | |Briefing Stage |Briefing from the client | | |Internal briefing to the creative and media | | |Any research briefing if required | |Creation Stage |Ad campaign and media plan development | | |Internal review and finalization | | |Presentation to client and approvals | | |Any pre-testing if required | |Production Stage |Budget and estimate approv als | | |Production of ilm, press ads, collaterals | | |Media Scheduling and media booking | | |All release approvals for creative & media | |Post Production Stage |Material dispatch to media | | |Media release monitoring | | |Any post-testing if required | | |Billing and collection | Types of advertising agencies Ad agencies come in all sizes, from small one- or two-person shops to large multi-national, multi-agency conglomerates such as Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Interpublic Group of Companies and Havas. Some agencies specialize in particular types of advertising, such as print ads or television commercials. Other agencies, especially larger ones, produce work for many types of media. Lately, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms have been classified by some as ‘agencies' due to the fact that they are creating media and implementing media purchases of text based (or image based in some instances of search marketing) ads. This relatively young industry has been slow to adopt the term ‘agency' however with the creation of ads (either text or image) and media purchases they do qualify technically as an ‘advertising agency' as well as recent studies suggest that both SEO and SEM are set to outpace magazine spending in the next 3-5 years. Not all advertising is created by agencies. Companies that create and plan their own advertising are said to do their work in house. Today selection of ad-agency is very difficult. The advertiser should make list of all possible agencies that can serve his purpose and the agency best qualified to provide required and effective services are selected. Some advertiser may select more than one advertising agency to handle effectively the various product lines. Following are major types of advertising agencies that are currently serving the advertising industry. Full Service Agencies A full service ad agency is one that provides a range of marketing services. A full services agency provides services that are directly related to advertising such as copywriting, artwork, production of ads, media planning etc. It also provides such services in respect of pricing, distribution, packaging, product design etc. Modular agencies A modular agency is a full service agency that sells its services on a piece meal basis. Thus an advertiser may commission an agency’s creative department to develop an ad campaign while obtaining other agency services elsewhere. Or, an advertiser may hire an agencies media department to plan and execute a program for advertising that another agency has developed. Fees are charged for actual work undertaken. In House agencies Those companies, which prefer to have closer control over advertising, have their own in-house agency. This type is owned completely by the advertiser. It performs almost all functions that an outside advertising agency would perform and that’s why some people refer to it as full-service advertising department of the advertiser. However, the difference between an in-house agency and an advertising department is that the in-house agency can undertake to serve several other clients, if the owner so desires, but an advertising department solely undertakes that work of its owner and not of outside clients. Secondly an advertising department may not be equipped the personnel and facilities, which an in-house agency would posses. In-house agency not only provides control over advertising schedule and costs, but also offers convenience for its owner, because it is just available in the same building as that of the head office of advertiser. Such in-house agency also benefits the owner as it can bring revenue through agency commission that are offered by the media and by way of fees that are collected from outside parties for undertaking their advertising work. Such revenue increases the funds and profits of the company. There is another version of in-house agency whereby advertiser handles the total agency functions by buying service unit to buy time, space and place the ads. Such an In-house agency is an administrative center (under the direction of an advertising director) that gathers and directs varying outside for its operation. Creative Boutiques These are shop agencies that provides only creative functions and not full-service. The specialized creative functions include copy writing, artwork and production of ads, they charge a fee or percentage of full service agencies, and as such most of them convert into a full service agency or merge with other agencies to provide a wide range of services. Mega agencies A significant of 1980’s is the development of mega agency. Agencies worldwide merge with each other serve their clients in much better way. It was in 1986, Saachi & Saachi, a London based agency who started the movement and at present it is the third largest agency network in the world. The Specialists Agency There are some agencies who undertake advertising work only in certain areas. there are agencies that specialize only in financial services or only in publicity or only in point-of-purchase material etc. for instance Soubhagya advertising agency concentrate on specialized in financial advertising. The functions of an advertising agency: †¢ To accelerate economic growth and create public awareness †¢ To provide a total, professional, experienced service which is very personal in its nature †¢ To take the advertiser's message and convert it into an effective and memorable communication The Benefits of Using an Advertising Agency †¢ Added Expertise †¢ Media Knowledge and Unbiased Advice †¢ Easier Administration †¢ Media Buying †¢ Quality Control †¢ Information †¢ Fending off the media †¢ And when things go wrong †¢ Cost Saving †¢ Time Saving Advertising Agency's Role Suppose you are a company with a product. It may be a totally new product. As a company with a product or service to sell, designing and making that item is only part of the battle. People are not going to beat a path to your door. You have to seek a channel of communication. Ad agency need to consider, for example: †¢ For whom is the product or service designed? †¢ Who would use it? Who is the â€Å"target group†? †¢ What's special about the product? In what way is it distinct? Unique? Different? †¢ What's its â€Å"position† in relation to other similar products? †¢ What do you want to convey to the public about y our product? †¢ How should your company contact the public? †¢ What medium should it use? Radio? TV? Newspapers? Magazines? Billboards? Bus/subway ads? Direct mail? etc. †¢ How extensive a region should your company try to cover? †¢ How often? Communication and marketing decisions involve specialized expertise. Many companies that design and produce products or offer services lack these specific capabilities. This is where advertising agencies fit in. Advertising agencies exist to help companies to communicate with the public, Market the company's product. [pic] The process of advertising involves considerable specialized knowledge and expertise †¢ about people – their interests, preferences, needs, wants, lifestyles, expectations †¢ about media – their reach, their effectiveness, their specific appeal †¢ about the company and its product – and about competing companies and their products Services offered by ad agency Total Advertising Services Strategic planning, creative development and media services for advertising, particularly in television, newspapers, magazines and radio; providing the best creative designed to capture the imagination of consumers Marketing Services Provision of a number of advertising related services, including sales promotion, market research, PR and event marketing. e-Solution Services e-solution services, including system integration services, e-business consulting and customer relationship management (CRM), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and e-promotions using the Internet and mobile. Content Business Sales of sponsorship, broadcasting and other rights, and the production and marketing of such media / content as sporting events, films, TV programs, animated content, music and other forms of entertainment. Integrated Media Services Bringing value to both clients and media-related companies by offering a wide range of media solution services Sales Promotion Providing comprehensive sales promotion planning designed to complement mass media and other activities Event Marketing Assisting clients by providing dynamic vehicles for their messages in the form of on-the-spot interactive communications Integrated Branding Services Assuring clients the highest quality of branding services for their communication needs Organization Structure The activities within an advertising agency are typically divided into 4 broad groups: account management, the creative department, media buying, and research. These divisions are usually physically separated, although all four areas work closely together to produce an advertising campaign in its entirety. Account managers usually have daily interaction with a counterpart at the client's office and coordinate the activities of the other departments according to the client's wishes. The creative department designs original themes or concepts for ads, while the media department places finished ads within the media in which they will receive the most exposure to a target audience. The research department provides data about consumers to help the agency and the client make informed advertising decisions. Recently added to advertising agencies' roster of services are public relations, direct marketing, and promotional services. Other activities that used to be completed by outside vendors, such as photography and high-tech print work, have been brought in-house in many agencies. ORGANIZATION CHART [pic] [pic] Departments & Personnel Account Services / Account Management The other major department in ad agencies is account services or account management. Account service employees work directly with clients and potential clients, soliciting business for the ad agency and determining what clients need and want the agency to do for them. They are also charged with understanding the client’s business situation and representing those needs within the agency, so that ads can be brought to bear on the correct problem. Account planner / Director The Account Planner is the main planning executive who works in partnership with the client on long-term account planning. He knows what is happening in the market place, the attitude of the consumer towards the client’s as well as the competitor’s brands. Account Planner Deals with senior members of the client organization. He is responsible for agency performance as a whole with limited involvement in routine agency projects. The Account Director is responsible for forward, long-term planning, deployment of agency personnel and overall account profitability. The account planner was originally employed to â€Å"represent the consumer† in the advertising i. e. , find the best way to pitch the clients products to people by better understanding them, what they want and how to talk to them. Planning's role has expanded considerably since it was originally introduced. Planners are now also brand strategists and, to a certain extent, media strategists – using consumer insights to understand where and how people are most receptive to certain messages. In many agencies, there is a dedicated media department and there are also some large and small agencies that exclusively handle media strategy and media buying. Account Supervisor A middle management position: he or she manages the account within a medium term perspective. This includes strategic planning, market analysis, competitive activity analysis, as well as recognizing and capitalizing on business building opportunities. Account executives Account executives represent their ad agency to their clients. They understand sales and advertising problems of the client and address the client’s need to the advertising approach. In advertising ‘The account’ is the client. The business of each client with the agency is referred to as an account. An ad agency handles assignments of a number of clients. A client’s business is assigned to a team of people from the ad agency with the Account Executive at the head of team. An account executive may be handling the business of number of non-competing clients at the same time. The Account Executive supervises his team of people drawn from all departments while planning, scheduling and executing the assignment. Before a campaign is launched research on the client’s business methods, the product to be advertised is made. With this background information there is a meeting of the creative media and marketing division along with members of the client’s team. The objective of this meeting is to define the nature and use of the product, and the target users as well as other competing brands. After all the information is assigned the agency team prepares a draft brief with recommendations. These are presented to the client by the Account Executive. The brief and budget are discussed and after finalization of work. The Account Executive motivates guides and coordinates the activities so that deadlines are met and the client’s expectations become a reality. He spends lot of time keeping the client updated on the progress. The Agency’s Director too has to be kept informed. This is done directly in smaller firms but in larger firms there may be an Account Planner or Director. The chief role of account executive is to extract the best possible work from the other departments of the agency. They are in daily touch with clients. Creative department The creative department is the people who create the actual ads – form the core of an advertising agency. Modern advertising agencies usually form their copywriters and art directors into creative teams. Creative teams may be permanent partnerships or formed on a project-by-project basis. The art director and copywriter report to a creative director, usually a creative employee with several years of experience. Although copywriters have the word â€Å"write† in their job title, and art directors have the word â€Å"art†, one does not necessarily write the words and the other draw the pictures; they both generate creative ideas to represent the proposition (the advertisement or campaign's key message). Creatives frequently work with outside design or production studios to develop and implement their ideas. Creative department consist of two key personnel i. e. art director and copywriters. These positions and ad agency is explained below. Art Directors Art Directors in Advertising aren't necessarily the head of an Art Department although the title may suggest it. They typically work in teams with a copywriter. Together the team works on a concept and design for commercials, print advertisements, and any other advertising medium. The art director is mostly responsible for the visual look and feel of the creative product as well as the concept. The Art Director ensures that the end product has the same look and feel as the original concept. The copywriter has ultimate responsibility for the product's verbal and textual content, and both are responsible for coming up with big, effective and persuasive ideas. Depending on the competencies of each, they may share tasks that are traditionally designated for one or the other, for instance, an art director may suggest certain wording and a copywriter may suggest a certain aesthetic for a project. Art directors may also oversee a team of junior designers, image developers and production artists. In a smaller organization the art director may fill these roles as well. In a larger organization, art directors may oversee other art directors in a senior/junior art director relationship. Copywriter A copywriter is a person who writes text, or copy, for clients. Most copywriters work in advertising or marketing, producing copy that's intended to persuade a reader to buy a product or service or otherwise take action. Copywriting involves providing words, which are read or heard in advertisements. This may include slogans or jingles or detailed text for catalogues, brochures, leaflets and journals. Copywriting also takes the form of script for television and film commercial advertisement. Copywriters can contribute words and ideas to print ads, catalogs, billboards, commercials, brochures, postcards, online sites, e-mail, letters and other advertising media. Ultimately, the kinds of ads and media a copywriter will work in depend on his or her own inclination and what clients ask for. A copywriter often works as part of an advertising team. Agencies and advertising departments partner copywriters with art directors. The copywriter has ultimate responsibility for their ads verbal and textual content, the art director has ultimate responsibility for the visual look and appeal, and both are responsible for coming up with big, effective, persuasive ideas. Copywriter and visual art work go hand in hand and this is the work which goes on in the agency’s creative department. Briefs from the Account Executive outlining the target group for the advertisement and information about the product, followed by discussions with the account planner, along with research material, and perhaps a meeting with client put the creative department to work. The essential skill of the Copywriter lies in interpreting and understanding the mind and needs of the target audience and the characteristics of the product. They must identify what it is that would make people want or need the product being promoted. The Art Director and the Copywriter together then work on an idea that should catch the attention of the public and put the selling point of the product across; many ads are discarded, reincarnated and created. The final product is a team effort of the Copywriter and Art director with each other having suggested alterations to the other. The more successful creations are then shown to the creative director who in turn may suggest further modifications. Final drawings are then produced and shown to the client. Once the client accepts the concept and layout is modified and the details filled in. The design and copy is sent to the production team for typesetting, photographs and drawings for printed advertisements or filming for television commercials. Giants in the copywriting field include David Ogilvy, William Bernbach, Robert W. Bly and Leo Burnett. Many creative artists spent some of their career as copywriters before becoming famous for other things, including Dorothy L. Sayers, Joseph Heller, Terry Gilliam, Salman Rushdie, and Don DeLillo. Creative Department people need following attributes for this back-breaking job. †¢ A good psychologist. †¢ Willing and able to set high standards. †¢ An efficient administrator & Research minded †¢ Capable of strategic thinking – ‘positioning’ and all that. †¢ Equally good at package goods and other kinds of accounts †¢ Well versed in graphics and photography †¢ A hard worker and fast †¢ Slow to quarrel Prepared to share credit for good work, and accept blame for bad work †¢ A good presenter & good recruiter Creative Process Policy [pic] Digital Studio Often called the DTP section, this set of people work on the final artwor ks that are sent to the various publications for release. DTP Artist DTP Artist is Desk Top Publishing worker, a special name used in Advertising agencies, Publisher, Color separation, Printing and other related industries. A DTP Artist usually skilled in multiple computer design applications, such as QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Adobe InDesign CS, and others. DTP Artist is formerly known as FA Artist (FA: Finishing Artwork), the name changed due to the digital revolution. DTP Artist is a common name used in India, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries. In America, advertising DTP associate is the term frequently used to describe graphic artists working for in-house art departments. American advertising agencies separate the role of graphic artists between art directors and production artists. Visualizer Visualizer is a position designed by Advertising agencies to assist Art directors, in producing quick & good quality artworks, for presentation (to please the clients). The salary of a Visualizer is very low, usually an average salary of a Visualizer is less than half, or sometimes quarter, of the salary of an Art Director. Visualizer is a special name used in advertising agencies in non-native English speaking countries, Malaysia, Singapore and others. Media Department Size and scale of the advertising is not important. What's in the mind is important. The big bucks are not being spent on production, they are being spent on broadcasting. The Media Department of an advertising agency is responsible for the planning and placement of advertising time and space. It is a function that in recent years has undergone considerable change. The proliferation of media forms and the escalating cost of media time have brought a new focus to the Agency Media Department. Media Executives The main task of the media executives is to place the advertisements where they will be seen by the right target audience keeping the budget in the mind. Hence this job requires planning, research and buying space in the press or time for commercial radio and television. In large agencies this task may be allocated to two or three different specialist. There may be a media planners and media buyers. In small agencies the task may be handled by the same person. FUNCTIONS OF THE MEDIA DEPARTMENT Media Planning The Media Department is responsible for the preparation and the actual presentation of the media plan. This department recommends media and media vehicles that in the agency's opinion best fulfill the client's marketing and advertising objectives. The recommendations are based on a careful assessment of the client's strategic requirements and the subsequent matching against these of the various available media forms. In the process there is great reliance on research and the known strengths and weaknesses of various media. Computer analysis is frequently used to sift through and compare all the media audience data that is available. The final media plan will present a carefully thought out recommendation that delivers the right target group, at the right time, in the right place, with the right number of messages. Media planners have access to up-to-date information about each advertising medium. This includes the relationship and circulation figures for news papers and magazines, viewing figures for different times of the day, listening audience figure for commercial radio stations etc. They are also aware of the various locations for hoarding and billboards. They are a vast array of choice. There are thousands of brands to advertise the work is challenging. It is though the selection of the right media that a good media department can save large advertisers money as well as give credibility. Media Buying Once a media plan has been approved by a client, it must then be purchased. The procedures for this vary according to the medium under consideration. In print media, for example, most purchases are made on the basis of rate cards issued by various newspapers or magazines. In broadcast, however, negotiation is involved. The objective of this negotiation is quite simple – to achieve maximum media efficiencies in obtaining the most for the least, or, in other words, the most audience for the least amount of money. Media buyers buy advertising time/space for the agency’s client. The work closely with the media planer if the two functions are carried out separately. Television and newspaper advertising are expensive. The media buyer’s expertise is in the negotiating the best possible deal for the client. The commercial breaks with the most viewers are the most expensive and so also the newspapers and magazines with the Media Estimating Every single purchase made by the Media Buyer must be recorded in advance of the actual running of the advertisement. This is to enable the agency to bill the client for monies spent on their behalf and to check the invoices submitted by the media. This document is called an estimate. Marketing Research Department Marketing research is three things: 1. The identification of information needs (i. e. defining the problem) 2. The systematic gathering, recording, analyzing and interpreting of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services (i. e. providing a solution to the problem) 3. The analysis and evaluation of action taken on the basis of information (i. e. monitoring and modifying the initial solution). The single most important reason then for doing marketing research is to guide the marketer in the analysis, planning, implementation and control of marketing and communications programs to satisfy both customer needs and organizational goals. It does this by providing decision-makers with information necessary to choose between alternative courses of action. While marketing research information can never eliminate all risk from decision making, good research can and should substantially reduce the odds of failure. In short, the essence of marketing research is â€Å"problem-solving†. Creative Services Department The creative services department may not be so well known, but its employees are the people who have contacts with the suppliers of various creative media. For example, they will be able to advise upon and negotiate with printers if an agency is producing flyers for a client. However, when dealing with the major media (broadcast media, outdoor, and the press), this work is usually outsourced to a media agency which can advise on media planning and is normally large enough to negotiate prices down further than a single agency or client can. In small agencies, employees may do both creative and account service work. Larger agencies attract people who specialize in one or the other, and indeed include a number of people in specialized positions: production work, [Internet] advertising, or research, for example. Event Management and Promotion department These are marketing support services which coordinate with external suppliers and use internal resources to implement the client's plans. The work here is coordination, with specific responsibilities being more specialized. Event management, an industry that is just taking off in India, plans, organizes and executes live events, which could include a brand/product launch, an exhibition, a concert or even a conference. Traffic Manager (system administrator) An often forgotten, but still important, department within an advertising agency is traffic. Typically headed by a traffic manager, this department is responsible for a number of things. First and foremost is increasing agency efficiency and profitability through the reduction of false job starts, inappropriate job initiation, incomplete information sharing, over- and under-cost estimation, and the need for media extensions. In small agencies without a dedicated traffic manager, one employee may be responsible for managing workflow, gathering cost estimates and answering the phone, for example. Large agencies may have a traffic department of ten or more employees. Radio & TV Broadcast Production Department The Broadcast Production department is responsible for making television and radio commercials to be aired across the country. Each project is different and the job demands both creative and administrative ability. The most successful people in Broadcast Production have strong aptitudes in both creative and administrative areas. This means that they should be active in creative spheres. They must also have a very high organizational ability as there are a myriad of details to attend to in any production. There are two basic classifications of jobs in Broadcast Production: †¢ Producer †¢ Production Co-ordinator and/or Traffic Co-ordinator The production team's main function is to purchase the services of the correct film or videotape Production Company and to administer and produce the TV commercial production on behalf of the advertising agency and the client. The Producer The Producer is responsible for supervising all aspects of a TV commercial production, from the selection of the production company through budgeting, scheduling, casting, locations, sets, music creation, production meetings, filming, editing, sound mixing, to the final approval of the finished commercial. This means that the Producer must be completely familiar with all aspects of the film and videotape process, including animation, live action, and stop motion. Production Co-ordinator The function of the Production Co-ordinator is to work with one or more Producers, providing administrative and creative support in such fields as budgeting, scheduling, producing production books, and auditioning talent. A Co-ordinator very often will handle revisions and adaptations of TV commercials with the production company. They may also have experience in Broadcast Traffic learning other rules on talent or how to â€Å"traffic† a complex television schedule. Print Production Department Print Production, more than any other agency department, relies on graphic art technology to help give birth to an ad. If there are to be no complications in the ad's delivery to the printed page, then strict technical rules must be followed. Of course, rules were made for valid reasons. An ad must obey that magazine's exact size and film requirements. To defy those specifications, even slightly, would make it incorrect and therefore not publishable. What Print Production People Do? Print production people: †¢ Meet deadlines. Publications insist on strict deadlines and it's crucial that production pay strict heed to them. †¢ Use sophisticated technology. To ensure that those deadlines are met, the Production Manager must possess a solid working know- ledge of the latest graphic art technology. As technology changes it is now imperative to be computer literate and understand their function. †¢ Co-ordinate and manage. The Print Production department's job is to ensure that print advertising is reproduced correctly whether in colour or in black and white. This means exact attention to detail and it is up to the Production Manager to provide the specifications to suppliers. †¢ Skills and training. What are the skills necessary to make it in Production? Technical art expertise and a willingness to keep abreast of new developments; an aesthetic feeling for some of the craftsmanship involved in the graphic arts; accounting and math skills; and a sharp eye for detail. Computer literacy and an understanding of systems is another necessary skill. Production skills aren't something that can be bought, nor are they something that can be learned overnight. It t