Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: Department of Marketing
Before creating a campaign targeting Millennials, this thesis first identifies which consumers belong in the Millennial demographic. The definition given looks beyond the ‘age 18-34’ demographic information and analyzes the generation’s unique characteristics, their feelings of being misunderstood by businesses, the importance of social media and technology in their world, and what motivates them to take action.
The subsequent case studies examine the advertising tactics of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, the burgeoning social news and entertainment website BuzzFeed, and Beats by Dre headphones. Each of these brands successfully captured the Gen Y demographic group, with an emphasis on the younger end of the 18-34 age spectrum, and effectively communicated their understanding of Millennials’ culture. Each of the three campaigns contained social or digital elements to create engaging and relevant content for the niche of younger Millennials. Immediately following the case studies, best practices are outlined to summarize the findings.
Finally, a digital campaign is proposed for Bose headphones. The literature review, case studies, and best practices contributed to the culminating campaign, which will allow Bose to reach the younger Millennial audience.
Experience Marketing philosophy revolves around brand interaction with consumers’ physical senses in order to provide an exceptional experience that has value and creates affinity towards the brand (Datta, 2017).<br/>Experience Marketing and its various subcategories have been defined through a multitude of academic journals and publications (e.g., Experience v. experiential). However, there is a lack of consensus in academic literature over best practices regarding experiential marketing efforts. This thesis conducted primary research in the form of in-depth interviews to understand how current experiential marketers utilize academic models and understandings of experiential marketing. Interview data suggests that most brands stage experiences strategically based on their brand elements. In-depth interviews revealed that brands use academic frameworks as a reference point rather than a guide. Accurately measuring relevant metrics remains the largest challenge of Experience Marketing.
This interview-style podcast highlights the history of marketing and advertising, social media and its effects on users, and social media influencers and their roles in consumers’ lives. Furthermore, expert opinions from faculty at Arizona State University will help answer the question: do influencers have an adverse effect on mental health?
Professor Naomi Mandel, a consumer behavior professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business, and Dr. Mary Ingram-Waters, an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, The Honors College, provide insight on the topic of social media influencers. The full interviews are found in the podcast. Professor Naomi Mandel’s interview is found at 29:45, and Dr. Mary Ingram-Waters’ interview is found at 46:00.