UO AMA and Red Bull Partner Up

Red Bull came to the UO AMA with an exciting opportunity to be a part of their annual event: The Red Bull Gravity Challenge. This event consisted of teams creating unique egg protection crafts and then dropping them from a scissor lift at over 40 feet. The teams were judged on performance and creativity. The event took place on June 4th in the EMU Amphitheater.
Watch the video:


You can see me drop my craft at 1:50 in the video.

Joey Mucha
UO AMA - President

Presidential Marketing

When Barack Obama came to the University of Oregon Campus May 9th and spoke in the quad, I was a little surprised at how much it felt like a sports event. I say this because people were trying to sell things left and right. It reminded me of vendors in a stadium. Not only were people trying to promote opinions, but there was an endless supply of merchandise; buttons, bumper stickers, t-shirts, and the list goes on. I was a little uncomfortable, even to the point where I was trying to avoid eye contact with anyone selling something. It made me think, what is an appropriate way for presidential candidates to market themselves?
One thing is sure, I don’t have the answer. In the small amount of research I have done, the most interesting forms of communication I have found is an Obama thong for sale on an online store called CafePress (no I do not have one). At the same store, for the Clinton campaign, boxers are the number one seller. Although this merchandise is not officially part of campaigns, it is something that can easily be found online. While some people could find it offensive, others get a hoot out of it and are even entertained enough to purchase there own. Are situations like this out of the control of the candidates? Are they good or bad press?
Besides the overkill amount of merchandise available in presidential campaign marketing, another popular trend in presidential marketing is online promotion. With more and more people using the internet, online marketing has played a crucial role for contenders to spread awareness of their campaigns. In fact, I would argue that there is absolutely no way that one of the presidential candidates could get away without having a website. Then again, what business could? It is essential in this day and age to have a place for people to find information on the World Wide Web, even if it is just a phone number or address.
Online social networks have also become a popular form of communication. Not that Facebook is the ultimate online social network, but the majority of college students have a profile. I found it interesting to see the drastic differences in the number of supporters that each candidate had. McCain comes in last with 127,710 friends, Clinton second with 156,861 supporters, and Obama has an overwhelming victory of 837,923 friends on Facebook. Does this show that Obama has many younger supporters who use the network? Or is this a prediction of the next president of the United States?
Merchandise and online communication are huge parts of any marketing plan today. Especially when it comes to awareness, both these mediums help get the word out. Whether merchandise and websites are annoying, entertaining, or helpful, one thing is sure, they are an essential part of a presidential campaign.

By,
Laura Schatz
VP of Communications

Preaching to the Choir: NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK

Watch this video and you will see how powerful networking can really be. The founder of www.seesmic.com, Loic Le Meur explains how he raised 6million dollars to fund his start up.

China’s Online Marketing & Ads

When there are over 137 million internet users (called Net Citizens, 网民) surfing the web every day, looking for new products or services to enhance their self-appeal as the booming Chinese middle class, you know you want a piece of the action in the lumbering online market in China.

The growth rate of China’s internet user population has been outpacing that of the U.S., and is projected to overtake the U.S. in total number of users within a few years.

In a country where state-run media dominates the television ads, savvy marketers are shifting their focus to sell their products through the internet, hoping to tap into the growing population of middle class who entertain themselves through the web. The migration of advertising from print to online is an accelerating trend in the U.S. Now, the same thing seems to be happening in China.

China’s “little emperors” – typically trendy, and loaded with the wealth from their parents (due to the one-child policy) has undergone tremendous change in the past ten years. Equipped with knowledge to cruise through the web with ease at the dismay of their often confused and clueless parents, they are ready to further fortify their westernized image by learning what is “in” on the internet.

Global companies have already mobilized their resources, companies such as Pepsi, Nokia and P&G have hosted multiple online ad and promotions under the disguise of “interactive events” to drive their products to the hungry consumers. Sohu.com, one of the premier internet portals similar to that of Google for Chinese around the world, is already reporting over one third of their revenue from ads alone.

However, it makes us ponder how much more this exploding ad market can absorb before the consumers develop tolerance towards the increasingly flashy and flowerily ads thrown towards the Chinese online community. Already there are signs of saturation – websites were cluttered with eye-blinding ads, informative text were lost amid seas of promotion and “Click Me”s - maybe these will caution the new comers about the impending immunity of the Chinese Net Citizens.

But before that happens, let us enjoy ourselves with the videos created by Chinese internet sensation “Back Dorm Boyz”, who were actually sponsored by phone giant Motorola to act as viral agents for their latest advertisements.

Lucan Mui
VP of Communications

Ride of Silence -University of Oregon

Welcome to the 2008-09 UO AMA Executive Board

Every year the UO AMA elects a new executive board and the old executive board transitions them into each respective position. This year we had a large turnout for elections and each position has a strong and diligent elect. I am extremely excited to pass off the torch to the new executive board and watch as UO AMA grows even stronger next year. Congratulations to the new executive board!


Back row (from left)
Robert Martini – Promotions, Sean Gibbons – Collegiate Relations, Lauren Lundy – President, Malia Jarvis – Sponsorship, Braden Betts – Operations, Cameron Halmrast – Technology
Front row (from left)
Samedy Tiev – Finance, Laura Schatz – Communications, Sarah Dewey – Membership, Josh Benton – Vice President
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Joey Mucha
UO AMA - 07-08 President

We're Jazzed You're Here

After stepping off the plane in Louis Armstrong Airport, you can instantly feel the climate difference, much warmer and humid than Eugene. You can also sense the culture difference. The first sign I saw was an advertisement from the New Orleans Convention and Visitor's Bureau. The message was, "We're Jazzed You're Here" although it is cheesy, it excites me that I will be entering a community that embraces the arts and we can goto a genuine jazz bar.

Now we are in our hotel (Downtown Sheraton) and hungry. We are going to walk to the Gumbo Shop. More updates to come!