Saturday, March 28, 2009

March Madness was just that

A special thanks to Greg Stelfox and all who worked with him to try to organize our March Madness Basketball Tournament - Kingsville Style. Unfortunately, you can't fight fate. Only one team showed up - the Border Patrol - and it would up playing an intrasquad game. All the other teams - all police or county police or fire departments - were put on call or called in to work during the "chase" in the northside of our campus that day. That meant that they could not show up to "play ball" in our tournament. We still made some money and that was used to mail our Plan Book to Washington, D.C. and to San Antonio. It's a shame...this tournament was going to get us about $500 for travel. We made $80. Still, the effort was appreciated. Thanks again to Greg and all who helped.

Plan Book is gone

Yea!!!!!!!
We have finished our Plan Book and met our deadline. Thanks to the hard work of many of you, the Plan Book is a solid document outline our communications and marketing plan for TCC's binge drinking campaign. A special thanks goes to student David Brott for his tireless effort to make sure this assignment did not fall to the wayside. Please join Todd and I in thanking David for his hard work. But, make no mistake about this, all of you put forth a great effort. What did we learn from this? Well, essentially that you can't wait til the last minute to do an advertising-marketing campaign. The late nights were brutal. They could have been avoided. That's the attitude we need as we prepare our presentation, final ads and our backdrop and power point. Let's get with it......

One final note....all of us are very greatful for the effort that Mr. Todd Lucas put forth as he helped guide all of our students through the last details of preparing our Plan Book. Mr. Lucas exemplifies that type of professor our university needs. Without him, his expertise, his passion and his resolve to help us "get this done" we would not have made deadline. Bottom line! Please, all of you, go up to Mr. Lucas and thank him for his efforts of making sure the Plan Book was printed and ready to go.....And, the best way to thank him is to work hard on our remaining task. We have an opportunity to make our university shine and to show that our students belong right up there with all the big boys and girls in other universities. It's up to you all......Can we do it?

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Make Plans for March Madness Fund Raiser


Plans for our March Madness basketball fund raisers are going well. Greg will have a report for us Tuesday by phone and we probably need to do some legwork to make sure we are all up to date. Remember, see you Tuesday.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Spring Break Work - Tuesday March 17

We are tentatively plan to show up for work in the Art Room at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 17. Please let us know if you can't show up on this date by posing a comment on this blog.

Definition of Binge Drinking

The major popularizer of the misleading term binge to refer to the consumption of five drinks (four for a woman) which may have occurred over the period of an entire day and evening, Henry Wechsler, has now acknowledged publicly that his definition of binging doesn't require that the "binger" be intoxicated.

Traditionally and medically, the term binge refers to a period of intoxication lasting at least two days during which time the binger drops out of usual life activities and responsibilities. It's associated with alcohol addiction and serious drinking problems. A binge without intoxication is nonsensical.

Using the term binge to refer to sober behavior is deceptive and misleading, at best. Many leading researchers, as well as a coalition of 21 higher education associations, has called for an end to the incorrect use of this emotion-laden term
.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/InTheNews/BingeDrinking/1040072903.html

JavaDesign

According to the last poll we did with the class.....the name of our advertising team is

JAVADESIGN

Let's use this with a design in anything we do.....David and Al, you are in charge of making sure of this...

Good News! We have some funding

The following message was sent to tus yesterday by Dr. Duane Gardiner.
WE HAVE SOME FUNDING.....THE TRIP IS ON!


Dr. Flores,

Although some of the normal QEP requirements were not met in your proposal for COMM 4306/COMJ 5303, we will be able to offer some funding in support of your project. You are awarded $2500 for undergraduate student travel to the American Advertising Federation competition in April 2009. The QEP cannot support graduate student activities. Please confer with our travel office to ensure that all travel requirements are satisfied. The account to use for travel expenses is 218080, Student Engagement.



Best wishes for a successful engagement activity.



Duane



Duane T. Gardiner

Interim Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

College Hall 250, MSC 102

Texas A&M University Kingsville

Kingsville, Texas 78363

office: 361-593-3098 cell: 361-219-8681

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Workday Thursday March 12 (at night)

The class will meet Thursday, March 12, at night until ???? p.m. to work on the Project Plan Book. David Brott will be in charge of the gathering. Please make plans to attend and spend as much time as possible to organize the Plan Book. The book must be "mailed" to Washington, D.C., by March 26 so that it can get there by March 31. This is very important. Please call Todd Lucas or Dr. Manuel Flores if you have any questions.

AAF Deadlines Approaching

As we approach spring break it is essential that we know our deadlines.....Here are some dates for us to remember...

*Friday, March 13 - Team roster is due at national, 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. We must send this out Tuesday, March 10 to assure it gets there on time.
*Tuesday, March 31 - Plan books are due at national and to Beverly Ingle in Houston by 5 p.m. EST. That means we must mail it prior to this date to assure they get there. We must send 11 copies to Beverly Ingle, at Guerra DeBerry Coody, 122 E. Houston St., San Antonio, Texas, 78205. Let's get moving on this.
We must also send 1 copy and our plan book to Monika Ellis at AAF, 1101 Vermont Ave, NW Suite 500, Washington DC, 20005
*Wednesday, April 8 - The TAMUK 2009 AD Team list of presenters is due to nationals and to Beverly Ingle at 5 p.m. EST, April 8.

Lots of work guys y gals...we need to start writing, proof and get the plan book moving. We also need to start shooting and recording TV and radio ads. Those of you in charge of these different duties know who you are . . . .START!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Field Work at Mile Marker 113


Three team members - Tania, Melinda, Edwin - and I (Dr. Manuel Flores) travelled to Mile Marker 113 just south of San Antonio on Interstate 37 to do some field work and continue our survey with potential spring breakers. While there, we teamed with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to distribute information about the dangers of alcohol abuse and binge drinking. During the two hours we were there, more than 50 potential spring breakers showed up and all completed our survey. We distributed our binge drinking brochure and displayed our poster (which had some misspellings but was very effective). Except for an unfortunate accident suffered by the professor, everything turned out fine.