Week 5 - Super Bowl Midterm EOC

I chose Oprah’s Jeep super bowl commercial. I love how it was truly an American commercial. In that form it was a success; it touched people’s hearts. It touched my heart in a different way. Yes, the troops are coming home but are they getting are the care they need? To me that answer is no, the commercial was good from a political stand point. “The two-minute Jeep ad started with a quote from Oprah ("We wait. We hope. We pray. Until you're home again"), and then proceeded to make us cry with clips of families awaiting the return of their beloved family members from military service, as Oprah recited a message of hope from the Jeep brand. The message: America will be whole again.” It is good to bring attention to this and that families are being reunited. There is more after that they come home but they aren’t in one piece most of them suffer from stress and other illness.  A quote from the nbcnews website, “The euphoria of a soldier's homecoming from Iraq often gives way to depression, stress and trouble dealing with family members during the first months home, a new Pentagon study finds.” This is followed up by another quote by them, “About 42 percent of the Guard and reserves, compared to 20 percent of active-duty troops, were identified as needing mental health treatment in two screenings. The first testing was immediately upon return from Iraq and the second six months later.” I feel the commercial was just covering up what actually was happening and that is what I took offence too, but from a marketing stand point I believe it was a success. So it is a win/fail for me.  

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21775434/ns/health-mental_health/t/soldiers-suffer-stress-after-coming-home/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FadwTBcvISo

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Hand in Hand soap is a website that follows the same business model as Tom's shoes do. For every bar of soap they sell they give a bar of soap away. When ask what was the thought behind selling a bar of soap they said, “The goal was to come up with a household product people use every day, that had the power to save lives.  After 3 years of brainstorming, we came across an article reporting that each year over 5 million people die of diseases caused by poor water quality and lack of proper hygiene.  After further research, we discovered that half of those deaths could be prevented with just a single bar of soap.  It was at that moment that Hand in Hand was conceived."  There company not only helps people in need they do it in way that is environment friendly way. "Understanding our environmental impact, we set out from day one to create a soap that was as eco-friendly as possible.  We wanted to be proud of our soap and develop a product that was made with sustainable resources, and harvested ethically.” They also wanted to make use there use of packaging was sustainable as well. “All Hand in Hand soap is shipped using eco-friendly packaging, comes with a free carbon offset, and a portion of all proceeds is used to save 50 square feet of rainforest for every bar sold.” This is truly a remarkable company.

 http://handinhandsoap.com

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

All these video game companies are all cash cows, if you look at the makers of the game consoles they are made by cash cows as well, so why wouldn’t they be cash cows themselves? Take Microsoft for an example. Yusuf Mehdi, the CMO of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division, announced that they have sold more than 67 million Xbox 360s since the console launched in 2005, and it has generated more than $56 billion in sales. That is the sale numbers without it popular Xbox Kinect addon. They have sold 19 million units of those! Another example is Sony the makers of the PS3, since their launch in 2006 they have sold 70 million units beating out Microsoft. When asked about their ps3 launch in 2007 Jack Tretton said, “The fact that we were able to reach the one-million mark faster than our top-selling platform, the PS2, further validates the strength of the PlayStation brand and our belief that consumers are ready to experience true high-definition gaming." Then he followed up by saying,"Reaching the one million mark for PS3 is the first of many major milestones for us as we head into a new year. Even more impressive, is that we were able to accomplish this feat while successfully managing two other gaming platforms—PS2 and PSP." Maybe then was Sony a Star with a new product but today in 2013 they are not. Consoles are not selling anymore the fact is these company's need to release a new consoles that have star qualities to them like the Xbox360, PS3, and the Wii did 7 years ago. 

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

As Graphic Design professional I have decided to make this blog to represent my work and the work of other professionals that I have encountered. My name is Michael James Harms; you can either call me Mike or Michael, which ever you prefer. I have a passion for Graphic T-shirt designs, Business Card design and packaging. I also have many other passions in Graphic design. I love everything that deals with and that is around graphic design. I am 19 years old and live in Las Vegas. I love playing video games and keeping up with current events.

I got into graphic design a few years ago and I loved it ever since. My passion for it started in high school where my teacher sparked the creative graphic design juices inside me. I always knew on day I would end up on a computer all day. Every day since I was a little child I have spent time on the computer or drawling on a piece of paper and even sometime the walls. Art and design is just what I am about. I made my first T-shirt when I was seventeen and I was hooked since then. I doing graphic t-shirts and working the silk screen press. I also enjoy everything about graphic design.

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

I had to think hard when the last time I got great customer service. I thought about it a lot and I haven't had to many experiences with great customer service. There is one time that I remember a long time ago where the customer service stood out. It was at a store or the typical online shopping service it was actually customer service for a online video game. I know this sounds nerdy but it is true. It was for a game called Everquest. Yes, I said EQ Sony's big MMORPG from the late 1990's and the early 2000's. Well my account was compromised and I had to call in to get my account back. This was one of the best customer service I have ever had. I called in almost right away a real person answered the phone. He was really nice, he greeted me well and ask what my problem was and we got to the point right away. 10 to 15 minute later we finished re-securing my account and I was back onto playing some more Everquest. This service is so much better then todays MMORPG games like World of Warcraft where I have to wait a hour to talk to any real person.