The document is a paper written by Brandon Harrigan about why he chose advertising and marketing as his area of study. He discusses how advertising allows for creativity and grasping viewers' attention. He believes his creativity will help him succeed in advertising. Marketing also interests him as it allows seeing how products are received. His internship at Camp Harmony gave him experience with marketing tools. He hopes to gain experience and get a job at a successful advertising firm after graduation.

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Brandon Harrigan
Communication Capstone
Communication Studies Paper
1/26/15
Communication Major
Throughout the media, there are many advertisements that show different types of brands,
indicating how and why their product is important. Sometimes whenever you are watching a
commercial or looking through a magazine, people get confused with the brand’s specific
message. The ad has nothing to do with the product and it does not relate to how they could use
it in their everyday lives. Whenever making an advertisement for a brand it is important to
always keep in mind what the consumer wants and remember that your communication skills
affect the way your product is being sold in the market. Television is probably the most popular
medium when it comes to advertising because it can be seen by large audiences. Children can see
these advertisements when watching their cartoons or when housewives watch the soap operas
(Brassel 1). Although many brands have inspirational messages within their logos, there needs to
be a dedicated team to make sure consumers always come first and explain why your brand is
important. Currently, I am a senior at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and plan to
graduate with a degree in Communications. In this paper, I will explain why I chose Advertising
and Marketing as my related area and the contributions I will make in the future to this field.
Advertising
Advertising is a great department in the field of communication because it gives people
the opportunity to express their creativity and also be able to grasp the viewer’s attention with
any given brand. There are many advertisements that use a variety of techniques to focus on how

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to get the consumers invested into the product such as using different color schemes or re-
wording the central message to make it a brand that everyone could relate to. Although there
have been many advertisements that display all kinds of different messages to their brands, some
corporations are unable to get their products across to the public and eventually have to come up
with new ideas. According to the Detroit News, Automakers such as Chrysler, Volkswagen and
Hyundai have decided to not advertise their new models during the Super Bowl because they
wanted to spend their advertising dollars on other products and feel that advertising their brand
during the game would not be the appropriate time to get their message across (Wayland 1).
Going into Advertising, I believe I am a suitable person for the job because I have always been a
creative person and come up with artistic ideas that will make the brand appealing but also
relaying why the message is important. As a requirement for my internship at Camp Harmony, I
was given the task to come up with a new brochure that captures the beauty of the camp and
explain the new activities that are being added onto the program. There are many upcoming
events the camp is hosting that I am looking forward to being a part of. With time and a lot of
patience I hope to gain the experience of what is required of me and become a successful
employee in a highly successful advertising firm.
Marketing
Marketing is a great field in communication because it allows people to come up with
ideas for a brand and be able to see how the product is received by the public. Being an
employee at Camp Harmony requires me to use a variety of marketing tools that will help
maintain all of my projects for upcoming events and give me ideas to involve the community in
Camp Harmony’s message. Over the years there have been many marketing campaigns that have
tried to make an everlasting impression on consumers and sway them into buying their products.

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In the past, when it comes to digital marketing, marketers have made poor decisions that have
affected their campaigns and lose their consumer base in the process. Brent Gleeson and Jeffery
Baskin wrote an article called “3 Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2015”, to help
marketers avoid previous mistakes and get their brands back on the market. First, Poor Planning
such as the lack of an organized cohesive strategy is probably the biggest mistake companies do
whenever they try to sell their brand. In order to advertise your brand you need to have an
understanding of other competitors, geographical boundaries, customer demographics, existing
distribution channels, and any information regarding your product (Gleeson and Baskin 1).
Second, unrealistic expectations have hurt marketers in reaching their deadlines because they
could not have the campaign done for the given events. Even though there have been complaints
on this issue, digital campaigns take a lot of time to be developed, optimized, and improved so
the consumer can see the results that they were looking for. Finally, not being informed of the
brand is a sign to the consumer that you have no idea of what the product is about and that they
should not bother spending their money (Gleeson and Baskin 2). As a business owner or a
member of a marketing team, it is your responsibility to know your product inside and out before
advertising it for the whole world to see. With this given information, I hope to use these tips to
my advantage in my internship and be able to set up a good marketing campaign for Camp
Harmony.
Conclusion
As I take my last step in my college education, I am ready for the obstacles and
challenges of working in an advertising firm that will show off my creativity and prepare me for
my future career. I believe that I have the skills and qualifications to develop, create, and design
beautiful advertisements that showcase what the brand is all about and make it relatable to the

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consumer so they can buy the product. These years at UPJ have given me the communication
skills to know what affects or does not affect consumers in the media. After graduating and
finishing my internship at Camp Harmony I plan to seek employment that would allow me to
gain more experience in the advertising field. Eventually I would like to move to Miami or Los
Angeles and work at a firm where I can demonstrate my skills in the advertising business.
Colleen Reinhart, author of “The Advantages of Commercial Advertising”, suggest there are
many advantages in advertising and marketing such as allowing you to choose the target
audience, selling your product directly to the consumer, costs for the advertisement is varied and
with every successful brand brings in customers to make your corporation successful (Reinhart
1).

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Works Cited
Brassel, M. (n.d.). Television Advertising – Advantages and Disadvantages. Retrieved January
25, 2015, from http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/
Gleeson and Baskin . (2015, January 13). 3 Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2015.
Retrieved January 25, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/
Reinhart, C. (n.d.). The Advantages of Commercial Advertising. Retrieved January 25, 2015,
from http://www.chron.com
Wayland, M. (2015, January 23). Automakers shift gears, forgo Super Bowl advertising.
Retrieved January 24, 2015, from http://www.detroitnews.com/