By: Bailey Purpura
Check out some of the fun activities we did while exploring London and Dublin. We got the opportunity to explore the streets of some amazing places. Some would say we were getting lost in all the right places. Those people would be right. We definitely had the experience of a lifetime.
By: Julia Sprowls
Member of the education team, Curtis Allen preparing to talking with our class.
We had the privilege to get an inside look into the marketing of one of England’s largest snack food providers, Cadbury. The Cadbury family chocolate sales started in 1840 and have grown rapidly since then. Curtis Allen from the educational marketing team walked us through some of Cadbury’s advertisements and marketing strategies over the years. He showed us brands and advertisements we don’t see in the U.S., as well as competitor trends and how they learn from them.
By: Ryan Wilzoch
If you hadn’t heard, Ireland voted on its same-sex referendum on Friday, May 22nd. International Wit had the unique opportunity to visit Ireland just before the vote. It was difficult finding humorous posters and advertisements on such a serious topic. Luckily, we got a tip from an awesome professor who found the perfect video of comedians from all over the world using humor to support marriage equality.
The video linked below is a variety of comedians from all over the world, all supporting the marriage referendum. South African comedian, Trevor Noah said same-sex marriage needed to be legalized so the pain and suffering of marriage can be shared equally among all people. Jack Dee, an English comedian pretends as if he is repulsed not only by same-sex marriage, but heterosexual marriage as well, claiming a woman and man together make him “sick.”
By: Ryan Wilzoch
A few of our team members, Karianne and Ryan, got the chance to check out an international ad agency in Dublin on Monday, called Publicis. There, Karianne and Ryan were able to speak with a variety of professionals, one of which was Ian, who works in Client Services. Karianne plans to pursue a career in client services so it was incredibly beneficial for her. Both, Ryan and Karianne were able to reference many of the different campaigns Publicis mentioned such as: Bill Bernbach’s VW Beetle ads as well as Hunky Dory. Does that sound familiar? We did a post on it not too long ago. Click here if you missed it.
Check out this quick video to explain a little more:
By: Julia Sprowls
We’ve been studying and analyzing humor differences for an entire semester now, and on Monday night we finally got to experience the humor firsthand.
A classic Dublin pub called Stag’s Head hosted a free comedy show called Comedy Crunch in its basement. The opening acts were Irish and British, and the headliner, Michael Harrison, was Canadian. It was a small venue, so the comedians interacted with the crowd throughout the show. Our group of American tourists stood out against the crowd, so we had the chance to say where we were from and why we were there. Each of the five stand-up comedians made jokes about the Americans in the crowd and Americans in general. Actually, most of the jokes involved racism. Each comedian made fun of themselves as well as other races and ethnicities they knew were in the crowd. As the show went on, our research was confirmed when we heard the Irish dry humor. We heard the comedians making fun of themselves, just as we learned earlier in the semester from our interviews.
By: Karianne Johnsen
This week, our team will fly to Dublin, Ireland to begin the U.K. portion of our research. As the semester comes to an end, we’ve compiled a plethora of insight from students and working professionals. We wanted to share our main takeaways of how humor is perceived in different cultures, and how it is used in advertising and public relation campaigns and strategies in the United States compared to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Caitlin Kelley, a Research Coordinator at Hitchcock Fleming and Associates in Akron, Ohio, said,
“Humor has to be used carefully in agencies. It all depends on the client, their
product or service and their overall tone.”
By: Ryan Wilzoch
Last week, we decided to let viewers know what we were most exited about for while studying abroad. If you missed it, click here to find out! This week, the group thought we should take a more serious approach to what class activity we are most excited for. As a class, we are visiting a variety of places such as: PR firms, ad agencies, and even the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. As you can imagine, we are eagerly awaiting our trip for more reasons than one. Find out what we are each excited about in this short video:
To check out what we are talking about, click the links below:
Goodyear UK
Cadbury Tour
London College of Communication
Marry Crotty PR
Trinity College
Ketchum PR
By: Ryan Wilzoch
International Wit decided to take a little break from its average posts. The group decided to have a little fun to let viewers know what we are most excited for during our time abroad. Check it out here:
To learn more about Harry Potter World click here.
To find out more about BeautyCon click here.
By: Ryan Wilzoch
What is your dream job? Is it to become the CEO of Warner Brothers? Maybe you just want to work in an agency where you can bring your dog to work. Well, at Marcus Thomas, you can. Marcus Thomas is an agency based out of Cleveland that really boosts workers’ creativity, and we got the chance to see it in action. Our group was given the opportunity to meet with professionals at Marcus Thomas for an agency visit. As soon as our group walked in, we fell in love instantly. Dogs, pinball machines, free food, and Rock Band were enough to get us excited. Find out our favorite parts of the agency visit with this humorous video:
Click here to see the Marcus Thomas LLC. Website.
By: Ryan Wilzoch
On February 11th, the team went on their first agency visit to Dix & Eaton in Cleveland, Ohio. The team had the opportunity to meet with several professionals and learn about the differences in PR all around the world.
We were also given the chance to meet with select employees at Dix and Eaton for informational interviews. This gave team members the chance to hear how employees got their position at Dix & Eaton. Team members also got the chance to learn strategies on how to better their resumes, portfolios, and how to better present themselves.
Click here to see Dix & Eaton’s website!
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