Upland Brewing Company Releases Brand New Look and Campaign for their Sour Ales

Upland Brewing Company, like all other competing brewing companies, must have the packaging and advertising needed on their bottles to set their customer's taste buds on fire. This is the first step in developing the "buzz" your company needs in order to grow. Upland Brewing Company has recently released a totally new packaging and ad campaign for their Sour Ales, which are suppose to be wild, tart, and acidic. This means that the packaging and advertisement of these ales has to display these specific features also. I will touch on my opinions of how this company executed the new developments including the art, layout, and meaning I believe they are portraying throughout this blog.

I will first let you take a peak at what the new packaging looks like, which is the picture below:

I believe the design on these bottles is clear and not over bearing for the eyes to view. It utilizes the colors in the best way possible by adhering to the description of the certain ale. For example, the blackberry includes a mix of purple, pink, and blue. I feel that this is trying to explain that the blackberry flavor extinguishes vibrant flavor with a tart aspect behind it also. From what I can see, it looks like these bottles also include a piece of artwork on each one. Whether it is flower petals, a horse, or a rock it looks to be. These are what I see, but you may see something differnt of course, as each of us vary. The artist that designed this new packaging is from Minneapolis, and his name is Michael Cina. President of Upland Brewing company, Doug Dayhoff stated, "Michael Cina's style depicts a beautiful blend of science and art, each resulting in a stunning visual experience. And it emphatically communicates the level of not only craft, but artistry, present in every bottle." This explains why my initial reaction of the images on the bottle consisted of nature like things. 

Now, I will let you take a look at the advertising they developed for these certain products below:

I'm sorry for the limited visibility in this ad, there was no other picture that I could find unfortunately. But hopefully you receive the overall view and point it is trying to show.  

Anyways, this ad campaign surrounds around the new brand concept, "Blended works of art". This brand concept was inspired by details of the sours brewing process, and the importance of careful blending of different batches to create a complex, yet balanced flavor profile, as the article I read recently explained it as. The sour ales from Upland Brewing company are made with wild yeast and have gradually become an increasingly popular choice for craft drinkers, which I assume is why they wanted to create a new package design and advertising campaign.Upland partnered with Young & Laramore to create this new brand concept and ad campaign. I thought the new brand concept was thought out and well developed because it truly displays this "Blended works of art" on it's package design, which was the ultimate goal. 

Overall, I believe Upland Brewing Company did a fantastic job with the new marketing aspects they put towards their company. They hit the sensory, emotional, and informational appeals on all of their ale bottles and now have a defined brand concept that the consumers can look towards while enjoying their sour ale. I believe Upland will be receiving uplifting comments and opinions about their new packaging design and ad campaign because of the creativity that was released and expressed. We all know, creativity is needed for every little thing we do in life, whether someone knows it or not. And when you can capture this creativity and release it outwards, you will find yourself succeeding greatly and only improving, which I think Upland Brewing Company is going to experience. 

Twitter Battles Online Abuse

I recently read an article on Forbes site stating, "Jack Dorsey Says Twitter Has Made Progress Battling Online Abuse". For those of you who do not know, Jack Dorsey is widely known as a Co-founder of Twitter and the founder and CEO of Square, I had to look this information up myself when I first saw his name. Now, we all know Twitter is a social media medium that can be used for posting quick 140 character rants, but since there is a word limitation this small, the language can be derogatory and uncalled for. Many of us enjoy the short and sweet reading aspect that Twitter has to offer, but when this short reading aspect becomes not so sweet, it can turn into cyber bullying and online abuse, which Jack Dorsey thinks Twitter has progressively gotten better at preventing. The introduction of new tools to the users of Twitter is the key component to preventing online abuse, which I will be addressing in this post. Below is a picture of Jack Dorsey:

Before I address the nitty gritty details behind this article, I want you to read this quote I found rather thought provoking about Twitter, "Because Twitter happens in public and in real-time, we've had some challenges keeping up with and curbing abusive conduct. We took a step back to reset and take a new approach, find and focus on the most critical needs and rapidly improve." I have many questions regarding this quote and the timing of this new tools being implemented by Twitter and it has to do with.........the election. First of all, this article was published November 16th, so during the midst of election emotions. Anyone can predict that political conversations, especially through social media, can be extremely intense. This is where my first question comes into play, wouldn't you think Twitter would have taken the election and the feelings it triggers into account well before the election process began? The debates should have been a good indicator for the online abuse that was displayed. After these debates took place, I would scroll through my twitter feed, just for the heck of it, and I cannot even estimate the amount of absurd words used when people went back and forth in a conversation regarding their feelings about the debate. The conversation was not civil in any way, and if these new tools were introduced well before, this online abuse and bullying could have been prevented much earlier. Anyways, I will stop ranting and go onto the description of these tools.

The handful of new tools introduced consist of a "mute" tool, direct report of hateful activity tool, and the refresher program for Twitter's support team. The "mute" tool does its job by allowing users to turn notifications off for specific conversations and tweets that contain any racial slurs or profanity the user does not want to be subjected to. I truly think this a great addition because I know I become annoyed very easily whenever I am subjected to hateful comments and posts because there is nothing I can really do to help this problem. So muting these types of posts is the best way for people to avoid being consumed by the hate. The next tool, the direct report of harassment tool, makes it much easier for Twitter's users to report hateful activity that targets people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, and so on. They have incorporated a faster process of viewing these reports and addressing them in a timely manner. I personally think this should have been addressed when Twitter developed the system for reporting harassment because these incidents are becoming more and more of a problem that social media sites have to keep up with and address as soon as they can. Lastly, Twitter's introduction of the refresher program for their support staff focuses on online abuse. Twitter has re-trained these employees on the company's policies, which included sessions about the cultural and historical context of abuse. Having this refresher program can lead to the success and progress Twitter needs to supply its employees in order to combat online abuse. I think this program is an excellent implementation and should continually be used.

Overall, I do believe Twitter could have focused on the online abuse problem far earlier, but the new tools they have introduced are going to be influential. I think Twitter will find climb to new heights and receive positive feedback from the many users of their social media site due to these new tools. But, time will only tell us how these tools truly effect Twitter and its tweets!

Santa Forgets: Christmas Alzheimer's Ad

This specific ad about Santa having Alzheimer's really grasped my attention and interest because I have personally dealt with this terrible disease. My grandpa has had Alzheimer's for at least 10 years now and he is actually doing okay for how bad this disease can truly be affect people. He never says my name, but whenever my mom brings my name to his attention, he automatically can distinguish who I am. He also has a tough time when recalling short term memory situations. For example we would ask him what he had for dinner 5 minutes after he ate it and he could not tell us. But when someone asks him about something that happened in his past, he knows exactly what to say and answers the question accurately. This disease affects many people and I do not think people realize the varying devastating effects it has on a person and their family unless they are actually put in this type of position. I also feel as though people do not exactly understand that this disease can be examined with the money for the research to be conducted and possibly cured if this extreme research can be done. So this ad did a great job at promoting awareness of this research and Alzheimer's disease by emotionally tugging at the heart strings and releasing a message of hope. Here is the ad itself:

In this Alzheimer Research ad, as you can see, there is a little girl that experiences the magic of Christmas being stripped away from her because Santa is living with the effects of dementia and can no longer bring presents to the houses of the children all across the World on Christmas Eve. Once Freya, the little girl, was told Santa had this disease, she made it her mission to to travel to the North Pole and comfort Santa by offering her support and collaborates with Santa's elves who are the researchers. At the end of this short ad is where the details of the Alzheimer's Research comes in, which is the perfect ending to a heartbreaking and heartwarming story. It really leaves the audience with a certain mood of wanting to help this research program.

The best saying in this ad by Freya was, "If Santa has a disease, research can find a way to fix it". This quote expresses the uplifting effect research can have on this certain disease if it can be conducted. Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "Santa Forgot is a poignant and powerful reminder that dementia doesn't discriminate. We have to be provocative about dementia, to help fight misconception and fatalism around the condition and to demonstrate that pioneering research holds the answers. Santa is an important cultural figure, but the idea that he too could be affected drives home the point that dementia can strike those most special in our lives." This quote is extremely important to keep in mind because the Dementia disease does not care who you are, it can set anyone back at anytime. And this terrifying disease does not necessarily have to be heredity either. If there is research that can be done to prevent this disease from happening, it will save many lives and enhance many families so the life long memories can continue to be made for the people.

I feel that using Santa as the receiver of this disease was the best figure to use because he has such a tremendous influence on the children of the World, and this ad can explain to the children what dementia can do to the most influential people in our lives. It will make them want to take charge in spreading awareness of this research because they do not want anyone else having to deal with this like Santa did. Overall, it was an ad campaign that was a success in my eyes. The Alzheimer's Research UK did a fantastic job at balancing sadness and gratitude throughout this whole ad. I feel that this ad will inspire many to notice that we, as people, are the start of the research process that can transform the future of this disease.

Social Media Encourages Voters

With election day coming to a close on Tuesday, the social media outlets really stepped their game up in promoting everyone to partake in voting. Many of the biggest names of social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Periscope became extremely creative in promoting Election Day 2016. Facebook did a great job at supplying their users with the election information needed to go into voting with confidence. On the other hand, Snapchat and Periscope added filters of its own that display different logos, sayings, and pictures of the candidates.

Let's address Facebook's features of the election first. I remember scrolling through my Facebook feed, many weeks in advance to the 2016 Election Day, and finding information on how to get registered to vote and how to vote early by having random election pop ups that relate to these categories. As a voter who was not registered yet, I found this extremely helpful in going through the steps needed to be eligible to vote, and it was also a reminder to actually complete the voting registration necessities before the actual voting day. Once I clicked on the pop up regarding voting registration, I was directed to a site that explained everything I had to bring to my voting place and provided the forms I could fill and print out online beforehand, which made my wait for registering and voting early more bearable. In the article, they titled Facebook's interaction with the election as, "Facebook transforms into election information hub". They went on to bring up many other features Facebook provided that include many banners floating above your timeline, hashtags, live videos, aggregated news coverage, and trending information. As far as Facebook's in depth information on the election, they exceeded any social media sites promotion of this event. According to prdaily.com, "Facebook has been working to get users registered to vote and informed about their ballot throughout the election season. Its voter registration push helped more than 2 million people become registered voters, and launched a full voter guide that helps users learn about the candidates, their positions, and even down-ballot propositions and local politicians." As I said before, this feature available to the many Facebook users is a great tool to get people involved and educated on the voting process. Facebook truly transformed the meaning of voting in my opinion.

Snapchat also did a great job at expressing the election by including filters that supported each candidate and the results as the votes came in through the night. I know I am guilty for using the filters to send to my friends more than once because they are just too tempting not to become involved with! Here is an example of one of the filters featured:

As you can see, the filters are extremely personalized and meant to fit the entire screen so its visible to everyone it is sent to. This sending to other people then encourages them to do the same thing and partake in a variety of filters. It was a snapchat trend that could not be ended and people will be always looking forward to! Both of the campaigns could not promote these filters without a cost though, as expected. Periscope also displayed their filters that were aimed at giving their users something fun that are available in iOS only. It is more playful than snapchat by adjusting the effects. Here is an example of Periscope's election fun:

So as you can see from these examples, social media is a tool used in every aspect of life an has overtaken the digital world. This is scary, yet okay at the same time with the specific information it provides. The scary part of this is the fact that people use social media as something to attack others on, which is absolutely not okay. Now that the election is over and Donald Trump is our President, there have been posts all over social media that are uncalled for. I cannot even go on my Facebook page without seeing posts that degrade Trump supporters. This is not a time to go against each other, it is a time to stay united because our country will need it these next 4 years.

PR Pros React to the Outrage of Starbucks' New Cups

I recently read an article about the new Starbucks' cups and how they are either a hit or miss to people, but what product out there isn't? There is absolutely no possible way to please everyone because we all have our own opinions in life. Besides that point, which I will get to later, this article explains the concept behind the "unity" cups that Starbucks incorporated into their stores. The cups display a mosaic of more than a hundred people drawn out in a continuous stroke created by artist Shogo Ota. The customers that were outraged by these cups threatened to boycott the chain via social media because it is apparently "over-the-top political correctness" to them. There have to be many more complaints that go towards these cups, but another one was how Starbucks did not include any Christmas imagery. On the other hand, last year, Starbucks found themselves in a bad spot when they debuted their red holiday cup without Christmas images. In my opinion, people focus too much of their time and energy trying to fix every little thing that is wrong to them in this World, like a Starbucks cup. Instead, we should focus on the good in our lives, and work on embracing this good  in order to develop a sense of happiness that we can carry with us through life. As PR and Marketing Pros say, in the article, "Get a life and grow the cup up." I love this quote because it's the truth! Do not let one small thing or change rock your World, it's not worth it!

Here is a picture of the new cup:

Now onto more of the politics behind this cup and the timing of this cup being established pre election. We all know that this election has been nothing but a whirlwind of emotions. And I believe we are all ready for a break, especially from those annoying political advertisements that make you not want to watch TV. Anyways, onto the point. Whether you are for the cup or against it, it does display a sense of calmness, in my opinion, because it holds a sense of unity of the American people by setting our political differences aside and understanding that we are all humans. Yes, we are all taking on this life we are given in our own way, but yet, we are always connected with the same simple aspect that we are humans. So well you take that first sip of pure joy from this cup, whether it is a mocha or straight black coffee, embrace the unity of the people and put aside the politics. This is how I truly examine this cup to display. I really do understand both sides of the story so I have tried to combine all of the sides into one explanation that we all can relate to.

As far as what the PR's in this article state, I believe they are right on with explaining this controversy. Jason Mollica released a tweet stating, "It's beyond comical that people get upset over #Starbucks cups. Get a grip. Don't like the cup? Here's a hint..don't. buy. it #PR This statement actually made me laugh because it is so accurate! We have no control over what gets released or developed in the World of Starbucks, so if you don't like the new cup development, you definitely have a choice not to buy it. Simple as that! You are only drinking your sweet cup of goodness out of the darn cup, don't let the outside affect you. Starbucks chairman and CEO also released a blog post that stated, "The green cup and the design represent the connections Starbucks has as a community with its partners (employees) and customers. During a divisive time in our country, Starbucks wanted to create a symbol of unity as a reminder of our shared values, and the need to be good to each other." This also represents the fact that Starbucks is not trying to express political correctness, nor should they. Instead, they are simply spreading the joy of treating everyone in life well. Because we all need that joy in our lives to make the World go round.

Overall, Starbucks new cup is generating more and more opinions each day as it is starting to become recognized. People will say what they want to say about them and live it at that. Don't go into boycotting against Starbucks or filing a law suit due to the cups not fulfilling your needs, that's just not right to me. I am sure there will be more to come of this debate, and the cups may have to potential to be taken off the market. But who knows, time will only tell in this case.