by gabrielaharmon

Wall Street Bound

Financial District in New York City

Hello, my name is Gabriela – second-year accounting student at the University of Florida.

Why accounting? For me, it’s not the plugging and chugging of numbers that interests me about accounting, but rather the power of knowledge that comes with being able to analyze and understand the ins and outs of businesses. In addition to business, I have also taken many political science and communications courses because I have always loved reading and writing.

This upcoming summer, I will be studying abroad for the third summer in a row. Throughout my time at UF, I have focused on internationalizing my degree and expanding my global perspective and network. Through involvement on campus, I guide UF students through the application and pre-departure process of study abroad and mentor international students studying abroad at UF.

In order to combine all of my interests in business, reading, writing, and international studies, I plan to attend graduate school to earn my Masters in Accounting and my Juris Doctor degree. I hope to eventually work in both the United States and abroad for an international company practicing international tax law. For this blog, I will be updating readers on the changing climate of the business and legal arenas all around the world.

by Oriana

About Me

A patch and cross stitch that I made.

Hi, my name is Oriana! I am a junior advertising major at the University of Florida with a concentration in studio art. I transferred to UF at the beginning of the fall semester from Broward College in South Florida. I discovered my love for the field about a year ago when I decided to switch from my major in graphic design to do something more meaningful to me.

My interests include drawing, painting, knitting and pretty much anything else art related. I have always loved drawing, but recently discovered my love for sewing and knitting. When I was a kid, I had always dreamed of being an artist, and I feel like in a way I am making that dream a reality with advertising. Hopefully, I will be a part of the creative department in an agency and eventually be a creative director.

My posts on this blog will mostly consist of trade press releases for trade publication topics related to advertising happening each week. This blog will be used to aid me in the use of social media in my career and to allow me to get used to writing blog posts on a consistent basis.

by graceubben

This is me.

The Palace Theatre in New York City, NY

Hello, I’m Grace – former thespian, now full-time ad major. I’m a passionate UF student pursuing a degree in advertising with a minor in digital design. I love good branding, storytelling and content creation – from beautifully designed static posts to compelling video.

My interests include digital design, blogging, and stakeholder engagement. I love creating content and pairing words with visuals that are compelling and aesthetically pleasing. At the same time, I understand that behind every beautiful, engaging Instagram post is a well thought out strategy and data to back up each decision and detail.

My heart belongs in New York City, specifically on a little block known as Broadway. I am passionate about musical theater and advertising, so I hope to one day blend my two passions by working in the marketing and advertising field with a focus on performing arts promotion.

One of my biggest goals is to graduate college and move to New York to work in advertising for Broadway shows. I would love to run the social media pages for live-entertainment brands and promote the latest smash hits. My goal is to serve as a creative director for a New York ad agency that specializes in arts entertainment and culture.

by Kea

What We Do

Content is king! I’m sure everyone has heard this little pearl more than once from a variety of sources. The idea is a staple of marketing firms and news organizations across the globe. Bill Gates famously penned an essay about it in the naught ages of the 1990s.

“Content,” he writes, “is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” He was right.

In the early days of the internet, having something to write or promote promised you popularity and financial success. Now, not so much. In the age before social media, content was king; now, it has been demoted. We are living in a time where we are saturated with content, and not all of it is good.

Content can range from very informative to very ridiculous. In between that, you have multiple people peddling the same content over and over again. So, who, or rather what determines the winners and the losers?

Move over content; here comes the Queen: Branding. (Queen B!)

Branding makes all the difference. Think about it: How many lifestyle blogs are there? Why do some deserve our attention and others deserve, in the parlance of the day,  “to be paid dust?”

Branding.

How many ways can you make guacamole? Far fewer ways than there are blogs about it, but there are still people willing to read specific blogs that tell them how to do very generic things. It’s all about the spin.

This blog will not follow that trend. What we will do is observe how it’s done. We will look at various branding strategies and analyze, comment, and, in some cases, critique those strategies.

Since this is a class blog, it will feature posts from people working out what works about marketing, advertising, and branded content, and what doesn’t. We will take a critical approach to understanding the relation between product/idea and consumer.

Hopefully, what we all learn from working on this blog will help us to create and promote branded content that is both useful and beneficial.

Upwards and onwards!

-R