Proposal for Team Plan #1

Marketing and Political Economy Team
Proposal for Team Plan #1
February 26, 2007

Team Roles
§ Amanda G– Leader – responsible for planning and oversight of plan to completion
§ Jessica Bel – Speaker/Presenter – responsible for midterm presentation
§ Jessica T – Liaison – responsible for fielding requests, questions, etc from students
§ Jessica Bas – Writer – responsible for ensuring all groupwork is typed and on the team’s Google group team page by the deadline
§ Erin D and Melissa Z– Innovators – responsible for creative thinking, as well as researching and developing new ideas and techniques for the group’s focus and work

Focus
Finding new ways to analyze the sales and marketing of popular culture online and generating ways to intervene in the production of cultural commodities and consumerism.

Tasks
§ Blog Topic Analysis
o Compare the blog topics chosen by our class to the most popular blog topics (using sites such as Technorati)
o Analyze how our blog topics indicate what we are most exposed to
o Timeline:
§ 3/2 - Sign up for and figure out the basics of Technorati
§ 3/5 – Compile/post a list of the class’s blog topics
§ 3/10 – Compile/post a list of the most popular blog topics and compare to class’s list
§ 3/19 – Post analysis of blog topics’ relations to our exposure to pop culture
§ Google Analytics analyses
o Eventually provide biweekly marketing analytics reports on the Class Blog (http://genderpopculture.blogspot.com)
o Provide reports by request* to members of the class on their personal blogs
o Tie this in to AdSense if the student has embedded it on his or her blog
o Timeline:
§ 2/27 – Sign up for Google Analytics account and figure out basics
§ 3/1 – Send class Analytics code to paste on their sites
§ 3/2 – 3/19 – Field student requests for analyses
§ 3/5 – Post report on Class Blog
§ 3/9 – Post report on Class Blog
§ 3/19 – Post report on Class Blog
§ AdSense
o Keep track of which ads come up on certain blogs with AdSense (possibly use Clipmarks with help of the Buzz team)
o Intervene in consumerism by initiating an AdSense ad type of the week, asking all students to search each other’s blogs and click on these types of ads – used as a tactic to punish undesirable companies by making them pay the blog owners for “clicks” that will never actually lead to product purchase
o Timeline:
§ 2/28 – Compile list of which blogs have AdSense and begin a list of the ads listed on each of them
§ 2/29 – 3/19 – Continually add to lists of ads, periodically post interesting ones or provide reports at students’ requests*
§ 3/1 – Announce first weekly ad type
§ 3/8 – Announce second weekly ad type
§ 3/19 – Provide comprehensive list of all ads on all blogs with adsense
§ Products/Memorabilia/Consumer Spending
o Search the web for products and memorabilia related to the topics of the class’s blogs, provide summaries of products and pricing for students’ analytical use
o Research websites that track consumer spending for certain products related to students’ blogs – either provide links to these sites for student use, or provide consumer spending reports at students’ requests*
o Research ways for students to advertise relevant materials on their blogs
o Timeline:
§ 3/2 – Compile list of students’ blog topics which have related products or memorabilia
§ 3/5 – Search web and compile a list for these products and prices
§ 3/8 – Post list of websites tracking consumer spending (if any) for student use
§ 3/8 – 3/19 – Field student requests* for consumer spending reports, periodically post interesting reports
§ 3/19 – Post a compilation of ways students can advertise desired materials on their blogs