Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Guerrilla Marketing

This dissertation examines the development of guerrilla marketing strategies and techniques. At the dawn of the 21st century, as the traditional advertising model evolves thanks to changes in technology, markets, commercial clutter, and audience cynicism, marketers are increasingly exploring new and re-imagining old ways of communicating brand messages and managing consumers. By studying the practice of guerrilla marketing – the umbrella term here for an assortment of product placement, outdoor alternative-ambient, word-of-mouth, and consumer-generated approaches – we can better understand an emergent media environment where cultural producers like advertisers strategize and experiment with the dissemination of information and the application of persuasion through covert and outsourced flows. Their creative license is remarkable not only in terms of content but equally that of context: expansively reconfiguring the space typically partitioned for commercial petition. As befitting a public relations mindset, the guerrilla message they seek to seed travels bottom-up, through invisible relay, or from decentralized corners so as to subtly engage audiences in seemingly serendipitous ways. Through a close examination of emblematic campaign examples, trade press coverage, and in-depth interviews with prominent practitioners, this project peels back the curtain on a form of cultural production that reworks the conventional archetype of mass communication and rethinks how consumers might be managed. Drawing upon Foucauldian theory that conceptualizes an active subject rather than a form of domination that has often defined the use of power, I argue that this is a regime of casual, if not “invisible” consumer governance that accommodates yet structures participatory agency; self-effaces its own authority and intent through disinterested spaces and anti-establishment formats; opens up the brand-text as a more flexible form; and democratizes in favor of heterarchical collaboration. It is, in short, advertising that tries not to seem like advertising. By studying the inspirations, machinations, and designs behind these campaigns to uncover and map the institutional discourse and cultural logic at work, I identify and analyze common themes of power and practice that animate otherwise disparate advertising executions and help redefine media industries

“Let Our Freak Flags Fly”: Shrek the Musical and the Branding of Diversity

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_journal/v062/62.2.brater.html“’Let Our Freak Flags Fly’: Shrek the Musical and the Branding of Diversity” argues that DreamWorks used Shrek the Musical to exploit a generic theme of multiculturalism to extend the reach of the Shrek franchise and challenge Disney’s domination of the Broadway market. By bringing a political-economic analysis to bear on the study of commercial theatre, the essay shows that DreamWorks’s marketing strategy—diversification—provided the theme—diversity—for the product it was employing to implement that strategy. Yet because Shrek’s multicultural message is contradicted by the blatant racial stereotyping of Donkey, Shrek’s “jive-spouting sidekick,” the musical in fact epitomizes the contradictions that inform multiculturalism in the early twenty-first-century marketplace and functions as an unlikely emblem of the Age of Obam

Little Village October 17-November 6, 2012

https://ir.uiowa.edu/littlevillage/1119/thumbnail.jp

Mustang Daily: WOW, September 11, 2009

Student newspaper of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/studentnewspaper/7954/thumbnail.jp

Gumbo Yearbook, Class of 2017

The Gumbo yearbook chronicles the entire academic year at LSU. In words and especially photos, the Gumbo shows the people, places, and events that make each year unique. In addition to formal portraits of schools and departments, the book contains hundreds of snapshots of students with their friends and dozens of pages showcasing organizations.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gumbo/1133/thumbnail.jp

Country Music's "Hurtin' Albertan" : Corb Lund and the Construction of "Geo-Cultural" Identity

Le concept de lieu fait partie intégrante de la musique country, genre musical traditionnellement associé à certaines aires géographiques, à des paysages ruraux et aux valeurs communautaires. Bien que la littérature sur la musique country ait bien cerné les liens entre ce genre musical et la notion de lieu, en particulier en ce qui concerne la géographie des origines du genre et de ses scènes importantes, on observe un intérêt scientifique croissant envers les chansons de plus en plus nombreuses explorant le thème du lieu. Cette tradition trouve ses racines dans les chansons hillbilly, les chansons de cowboys chantants, le bluegrass du Kentucky et le western swing, où les artistes ont exprimé la nostalgie des lieux familiers et du temps de leur enfance. Ces récits ne décrivent pas seulement le paysage et la culture d’aires géographiques données; plutôt, ils définissent la relation entre les individus et leur environnement, dévoilant ainsi le caractère, les valeurs et les croyances de l’artiste. En se concentrant sur la musique de l’artiste canadien de country alternatif Corb Lund, cette thèse vise à définir cette relation entre cet artiste de musique country et son environement, et à interroger la façon dont il utilise (à l’instar d’autres artistes du genre) ces chansons afin d’explorer plus à fond les liens avec ses origines albertaines. Plus précisément, il s’agit d’étudier comment ces récits de lieu contribuent à la construction de l’identité de l’artiste, ce que Simon Frith (1996) appelle la persona. Selon Richard Peterson (1997) et Pamela Fox (2009), les artistes country ont tendance à se référer à leurs origines dans un acte de « sincérité authentique », afin de construire une conception personnalisée du lieu (souvent autobiographique). Cette recherche a dû considérer les multiples couches de signification entourant l’artiste en tenant compte du genre, des niveaux identitaires et des rapports géoculturaux. Les approches géoculturelles et écomusicologiques permettent de mieux comprendre les façons dont les individus réagissent au lieu et aux liens intimes entre le « sentiment de soi » et le « sentiment de lieu » (Tuan 1974; Cantrill 1993; Solomon 2000). Le concept d’identité « géoculturelle », issu des sciences politiques (Talukder 2013), est invoqué pour décrire cette relation. Par l’analyse de la musique de Lund, cette thèse explore les manières dont l’artiste aborde la vie quotidienne, le travail et les questions socioculturelles propres à l’Alberta en proposant diverses conceptions du lieu, tout en construisant sa propre identité géoculturelle albertaine.The concept of place is integral to country music, a genre conventionally associated with geographic regions, rural landscapes, and community values. While country music literature has defined the genre’s connection to place in relation to the geography of its origins and prominent scenes, there has been a growing scholarly interest in the place-themed songs that proliferate the genre. The tradition of place songs finds its roots in early hillbilly recordings, songs of the singing cowboy, Kentucky bluegrass, and western swing, where songwriters expressed nostalgia for the seemingly simpler places and times of their childhood. These narratives do not just describe the landscape and culture of geographic regions, but rather, they also define the relationship between individuals and their surrounding environment and community, unveiling elements of the artist’s character, values, and beliefs. Focusing on the music of Canadian alt-country artist Corb Lund, this dissertation seeks to define this relationship between country singer-songwriter and place, and interrogate how he (like many other country artists) uses place songs to explore more fully his ties to his Albertan origins. More specifically, it is interested in how place-based narratives contribute to the construction of an artist’s identity, what Simon Frith (1996) calls the artistic persona. As both Richard Peterson (1997) and Pamela Fox (2009) have noted, country artists tend to refer to their origins as an act of “authentic sincerity, ” constructing personalized (often autobiographical) conceptions of place. For a study of this nature, it was important to consider the multiple layers of signification surrounding a singer-songwriter including genre, levels of artistic identity, and geographic-cultural (“geo-cultural”) association. Cultural geographic and ecomusicological discourse offers a rich understanding of the ways in which individuals respond to place and the intimate connection between the “sense of self” and the “sense of place” (Tuan 1974; Cantrill 1993; Solomon 2000). The concept “geo-cultural” identity, drawn from the political sciences (Talukder 2013), is invoked to describe this connection and define the geographic-cultural elements of an artist’s identity. Through an interrogation of Lund’s music, this dissertation explores how the singer-songwriter describes life, work, and socio-cultural issues in his native Alberta, creating diverse conceptions of place, all while constructing his uniquely Albertan “geo-cultural” identity

Towards Infinity And Beyond Branding, Reputation, and the Critical Reception of Pixar Animation Studios

American author and journalist Jonah Lehrer declared in 2012 that Pixar Animation Studios was ‘the one exception’ to the oft-cited maxim that, in Hollywood, ‘nobody knows anything.’ Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times spoke in similar terms in 2008, writing that, ‘critics and audiences are in agreement on one key thing: Nobody makes better movies than Pixar.’ Thirteen consecutive global box office successes and scores of industry awards would seem to suggest that Lehrer and Goldstein are correct. Yet it is important to recognise that such statements invariably refer to something intangible, something beyond a particular Pixar film or selection of films. There exists, in other words, a widely held set of meanings and associations about what the studio represents, and to whom. This thesis argues that this set of meanings and associations – Pixar’s brand identity – is far from the fixed and unambiguous entity it is often seen to be. If the studio has come to be seen as guarantee of quality family entertainment, when did this notion become widespread? Have the parameters for ‘quality’ and ‘success’ remained constant throughout its history? I demonstrate for instance that Pixar benefited considerably from Disney’s wavering reputation from the late-1990s onwards. I approach branding as a discursive process, and one that brand producers sometimes have little control over, contrary to the implicit claims of most marketing literature. Broadly chronological in structure, the thesis traces the development of the studio’s reputation by drawing on Barbara Klinger’s approach to historical reception studies. Individual chapters focus on how Pixar was discussed by critics and journalists at specific moments or in specific contexts, as it evolved from a computer graphics company to become the most celebrated film studio of all time. Ultimately, this is a case study of the cultural work involved in the making of a brand or an auteur, and how these meanings can shift over time

The capital of carnival: Alibabá carnival music and dance in Santo Domingo as social enterprise and performance complex

Every February and August, carnival groups known as “Alibabá” parade in the streets of Santo Domingo, giving a spectacular performance with equal elements of sonic and visual display. Unlike other carnival groups in the capital, Alibabá groups perform unison dance routines while dressed in stylized Middle-Eastern inspired costumes that are accompanied by a unique marching rhythm on percussion and brass instruments. This rapid-fire rhythm is referred to as “el ritmo llamativo” (the attention-getting rhythm) because of the incessant wall of sound that draws people toward it. The popularity of Alibabá among its fans is not surprising, as Alibabá musicians have been deeply influenced by the varieties of musical and environmental sound that have permeated Santo Domingo over the past four decades. Alibabá has remained so vital to the neighborhood groups who continue to perform year in and year out that daily rehearsals now take place from August until February in advance of the parades and competitions. Moreover, its music has found its way into other realms outside of carnival activities—including at baseball games, political events, and birthday parties. Nonetheless, Alibabá has not gained significant attention outside of its immediate neighborhood surroundings and many in Santo Domingo are still relative strangers to the practice. This is true in spite of a desire on the part of Alibabá leaders to be accepted as executors of Dominican culture and a concerted effort by the Ministry of Culture in presenting Alibabá as a central genre of carnival music. My dissertation is a social history of the performance of Alibabá music and dance during carnival in Santo Domingo’s working class neighborhoods. At a theoretical level, my dissertation considers the social, political, and economic choices of everyday Dominicans living in inner-city neighborhoods, in relation to intersecting local and regional policy and economic structures, and a larger world. I show that Alibabá is essential to these communities because it represents one of the few opportunities for some of the city’s residents to learn to play music and to dance, and because it is capable of meaningful change in the lives of its performers and fans. This is because the social cohesion and sense of belonging generated by participating in Alibabá is an important way that these residents overcome economic shortages and youth delinquency and cope with the daily risk of accidents, health crises, and death. In doing so, I demonstrate that performance practices like Alibabá can remain vital to the neighborhood groups who continue to perform year in and year out even without the intervention of commercial artists, government policy makers, or folklorists at the national level. At a theoretical level, my dissertation analyzes the production of perceptions of music and sound that determine the politics of everyday musical life. I ask, how do negative perceptions of life in inner-city neighborhoods in the local context of Santo Domingo impact the social life of its residents within the city’s public realm in the twenty-first century? At a national level, how do social, political, and economic processes dictate what has historically been heard in Santo Domingo? What role could CD recordings, social media, and Alibabá groups in New York City play in reshaping these perceptions in the capital? The answers to these questions may reveal that Alibabá’s story is the key to understanding how Dominicans within the urban environment find a voice within an ever increasing national and global dialogue. As an application of my research, I recommend various strategies so that cultural organizations and government entities in Santo Domingo could adapt their cultural policies and inclusion strategies to better address the needs and goals of performers, organizers, and the audience. I demonstrate that encouraging cultural practices like Alibabá is one way to challenge common negative perceptions of inner-city social identity by offering alternatives to both the realities of and anxieties about the urban environment

Bowdoin Orient v.139, no.1-26 (2009-2010)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-2010s/1000/thumbnail.jp