Fall Semester 2010 Wrap-Up

Friday, October 29, 2010:

Just a few projects remaining and this semester is done! I can hardly believe it. I have at least one more agency visit coming up (Slingshot) for Media Directed Studies, plus research for a white paper on Social Media ROI (Return on Investment) in collaboration with Dr. Steve Edwards and Babar Bhatti, founder of Mutual Mind (a social media analysis platform). I also have a Communication Audit paper to complete with a partner for our Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship class. We've selected Compassion International as our focus, which I'm familiar with and passionate about since I sponsor a child in India through the organization. And finally, a paid Facebook advertising campaign to run on the Gina Cooper Worship Project and one last presentation re: our social media work for that project to end Creating and Managing Interactive Content class. Everything will be completed by the first week of December, so only 5 five weeks and counting to complete all the projects and papers. Thankfully, no final exams this time around.

Tomorrow we'll be carving pumpkins with the kids. Sunday we'll be trick-or-treating as a family of pirates for Halloween. Just going around our neighborhood this year, no party to attend. Should be fun, I know the kids are amped up for it. Definitely will post some pics of us in our costumes!

Till then,

Alexandra Watson

Follow me on Twitter @abcwatson, or find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/alexandra.watson or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/4alexandrawatson

One-to-one networking musings from SMU ExxonMobil Lecture on Advertising & Social Responsibility

Thursday October 28, 2010

I've just returned home from SMU, where I attended a series of events this evening on Advertising & Social Responsibility. Kudos to Dr. Patty Alvey, her assistant Lisa Langford, and the others in the Temerlin Advertising Institute and Meadows School of the Arts at SMU for such a classy and seamless event! And I'm not just saying that because I go to school there (okay, and work in the office). I had the pleasure & privilege of attending a private dinner in the Meadows museum, followed by a cocktail reception in the Owen Fine Arts Center, then a Lecture panel on the evening's topic, and finally a dessert reception in the OFAC lobby. The panel discussion featured Peggy Conlon of The Ad Council, Jim Datri of the AAF, and Nancy Hill of the AAAA. It's was wonderful to listen to these representatives of key advertising organizations speak about the importance of socially responsible advertising and cause marketing. My favorite quote of the evening was from Jim Datri, who said "it's okay to make money and do good". Yep, our economy depends on advertising to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Profit with a purpose is, in my opinion, a great thing. After all, who doesn't want to make a difference in this world and live for a purpose larger than themselves? If we can combine that with work, with commerce, that I think is a winning combination for all.

From another angle, I had a couple great conversations with industry people at the event. That was exciting, and also a relief. I'm definitely NOT an extrovert at heart, so mingling and "networking" at these sorts of events is not in my comfort zone. But, I went into it with a few things in mind tonight: 1) I'm required to attend, so best to make the most of it, 2) I'm not the host or the guest of honor, so I'm not expected to "work the room", and 3) I'm studying non-traditional media anyway, so in that context a few one-to-one great conversations are more valuable than a mass of shorter, lower-quality ones. Interactive advertising is all about ENGAGEMENT and ONE-TO-ONE messaging, right? So, it's much more appropriate (not to mention socially and politically correct) for me to connect in authentic conversation with one or two people than to stand on the cocktail table and shout out my resume to the room! So with those things in mind, I relaxed and had an enjoyable and productive time. Wonderful talks with Jim from Slingshot and Jon & Cale from Canonball.

Can't believe I'll be graduating in just over 6 months! Looking forward to joining the advertising workforce here in Dallas (and doing socially responsible work of course).

Filling in the gaps: my New Media education & training

September 28, 2010

I can't believe it's been a month since my return to graduate school at SMU and since my last blog entry! The time seems to be flying by so quickly. How can Friday be the first day of October already?! Well, I've already completed the first six weeks of the fall semester. I have three classes this time around: Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship; Creating & Managing Interactive Content; and a Media Directed Studies course (originally titled "Commercialization of Virtual Space"- but who knew what that meant?).

Brand Board for Gina Cooper Worship

The first course is basically a theory class on CSR. It's discussion-based, and focuses on case analysis studies from Harvard Business Review. It's the last of our "core" classes and the only one I have this semester with the entire cohort. The second class is a very hands-on practice, as its title would suggest, at "creating and managing interactive content". We're working in teams of two to create a social media strategy and launch a SM campaign for a local DFW area small business or non-profit. My partner, Rennie Gibb, and I are working on the launch of the Gina Cooper Worship Project. Gina is a female worship leader from Wylie, TX and she's starting an inter-church worship team that is available for booking at events, conferences, special services, etc. It's exciting to be a part of launching a new Contemporary Christian recording artist and her ministry. You can find out more on Gina at www.ginacooperworship.com or check out the Facebook Fan page that Rennie and I have launched for her recently at www.facebook.com/ginacooperworship. The final class is only myself, the professor, and one other student of New Media. We're doing a variety of things with our time, including sitting in on key sessions of an undergraduate course in Interactive Advertising; learning a bit of Adobe Flash programming; visiting local interactive advertising agencies; trying out a beta version of MutualMind's social media monitoring platform, etc.

I have only one semester of graduate school remaining. In the Spring we'll all be completing a Practicum (internship) of 20 hours per week with a local advertising agency, and taking a capstone Campaigns course in which we create a campaign for an actual client. I'll graduate in May 2011. So to date, I've learned to do thorough secondary research and situation analysis, walked through the basics of traditional media buys, put together a campaign plan book, wrote literature reviews, papers, and presentations on a variety of topics, dabbled in metrics and web analytics, and created and managed a social media campaign. All of which leads me to wonder.......WHAT ELSE should I know before looking for a job in advertising/new media? What am I missing? Should I learn HTML and try my hand at building a website? Do I need more hands-on experience in analytics and ROI?

I've updated my resume (I even created a PowerPoint version and put it out on Slideshare at Visual Resume Link). I've ordered business cards. I'm attending luncheons, trade association meetings, etc. to network. But am I employable? We'll see....... In the meantime, if you have any suggestions that would make me more valuable in the advertising/ new media field please let me know!

You can also connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter! See my Profile for details.

Coming Home (from India)

Several things struck me as we re-entered the United States (in New York) after five weeks spent in India:

• Getting through U.S. customs was much faster and easier than I expected it to be. 
• The roadways and streets of the U.S. (even New York) are sooo much cleaner and more spacious than those in India! Where are all the people?!
• I got no break from heat and humidity.....its everywhere in August.
• I smell like a traveler and desperately need to shower and launder everything I own.
• I've missed my family and home tremendously.....not even Skype can compare to seeing them face to face again!
• No matter how hard I think my life may be, I am so blessed. I have so much for which to be thankful, and even "a little" by U.S. standards is "plenty" when compared to the rest of the world.
• There are less than three weeks before our fall semester begins (mine at SMU as well as my daughters' elementary school in Allen). Not much time to spend together before we jump into a new school year.

I took roughly 3000 photos during my time in India, and after careful editing, saved approx. 1200 images. I have several hundred uploaded in a couple albums on Facebook which can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67693&id=1493536168&l=6effaaef67.

I also uploaded about 100 of my favorite scenic images of the trip to Photobucket, viewable at http://s1045.photobucket.com/albums/b457/4alexandrawatson/India%202010%20Favorite%20Scenic%20Photos/. 

This blog will now turn to entries regarding my 2nd and final year of graduate school, my impending job search, and various other topics of interest to me such as new media, photography, parenting, etc. Please check back often to hear more of my Moments, Musings, and Memories! Thanks so much for reading!

With Love,

Alexandra Watson

Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twiiter, or Facebook!

India Shortlist

My time in India is wrapping up! I’m not looking forward to our travel schedule, but will be glad to be home soon. We’ll have a drive of about an hour and 15 minutes from the resort to the Goa airport, followed by an hour long flight to Mumbai. Then, we have a layover of about 9 hours in the Mumbai airport before we fly to New York on Air India. The flight is roughly 16 hours. We land at JFK in New York but have to transfer to La Guardia airport and wait another couple hours until the final flight on American Airlines to Dallas (a 4 hour flight). Whew! Travel schedule courtesy of SMU’s travel agency (which also took until the end of April to book for the group). What a pain!


Before I spend the next couple of days in airports, I wanted to reflect on some things that I will miss from India as well as some things I am looking forward to at home. Here is my “short-list”:

Things I Will Miss from India (no particular order):

• Buffalo-milk ice cream (delish!)

• Chai (tea), esp. Wahg Bakri brand and the masala chai at MICA

• Endless naan bread (esp. butter and garlic naan)

• Longer nails!

• Amazing photo opportunities

• Spices

• Natural fragrances/oils like neem, Indian berberry, jaggery, jasmine, sandalwood, etc.

• Great deals on beautiful scarves and jewelry

• Tiger Bus

• Folded towel characters waiting in our Goa hotel room :0

Things I Look Forward to At Home (no particular order):

• My family

• Laundry done in a washing machine and dryer

• Iced drinks

• Salad (that’s safe to eat!)

• Starbucks mochas

• Free Wi-Fi internet

• Getting into a dry bed and dry clothes!

• My favorite foods (esp. having meat, like at Chipotle)

• Cooking for myself

• Giving away the gifts I purchased


This trip has been an amazing experience which I'll always remember. I'm looking forward to seeing my husband and kids (and friends) again in Texas on Wednesday, but I'll take a little part of India home with me. Thanks be to God for His wonderful provision, to SMU for the opportunity, to my family for their ongoing love and support, and to India for the hospitality.

Goa Vacation

We’ve finally reached the point in our trip where we’re able to fully have time off from classwork and agency visits! We’re all so excited to be arriving in Goa. This is definitely a tropical climate; everything is lush and green, and the monsoon rains are falling intermittently throughout the day and night. The temperature is cooler than in-land in India, about the low to mid 80s (Fahrenheit) but at nearly 90% humidity.

The Fort Aguada Beach Resort is at the end of a road, right on the edge of the Arabian Sea. It’s a beautiful property with comfortable rooms and pretty views. We’re in a multi-story hotel building, but each room has a small patio area and overlooks a fishing pier and small road by the sea. The neighboring Taj Holiday Village hotel is arranged as little villas, and it has a common deck area that sits over the rocky beach. We can get shuttle rides between the two properties and eat at restaurants, use the pools, shop, etc. in both locations. There are lots of families with children here as well, so it’s got an Indian Club-Med sort of vibe. The Holiday Village property is a bit nicer (but more expensive) but I’d recommend either Taj property if you’re ever in Western India and looking for a vacation spot! Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort Website 

We arrived around 4pm on Friday, July 30th. I wandered around the property taking photos (of course), got room service, and then relaxed for the rest of the evening. My roommate, Allison Uhler, and I watched Three Idiots (this time with full English subtitles) and I enjoyed it even more than the first viewing at MICA. Definitely not a typical Bollywood plot (it confronts the immense familial pressure to study engineering in Indian universities) but an excellent and entertaining movie.

On Saturday, I was able to sleep in (a rare treat) and then enjoyed a spa package. I had a coconut body scrub, a massage, and manicure. Apart from the masseuse literally climbing onto me at the start of the massage (with her knees on the back of my legs, using her arms and elbows on my back- very weird) it was a very relaxing and pampering experience. They used great-smelling oil blends, and even put oil in my hair. Strange at first, but my hair and skin feel great now! Also, they put some blended oil on the wound on my foot and it looks better in one day than it has all week using Neosporin!

Sunday we had our final touring day. We briefly visited Fort Aguada (after which our resort was named), plus two Catholic churches in Goa built during the time of its Portuguese settlement; Bom Jesus Basilica (aka St. Frances Xavier Church) and St. Francis of Assisi (Jesuit Catholic) Church.

Then we visited Sahakari Spice Farm for lunch and a 30 minute walking tour of the plantation. It looked like a scene straight out of “The Jungle Book”, and I wouldn’t have recognized the plants amidst all the other greenery had they not been pointed out to us. Afterward, they had a strange closing ritual of pouring a ladle full of water mixed with citronella down each person’s back. Supposedly, it’s to cool you off from the walk (plus probably amuse the locals). We all left with wet clothes, but the tour was worth it. Also, we got to buy essential oils and spices from their market stand at incredibly cheap prices. We ended the day (of course) by shopping. This group is really good at spending money, especially on jewelry, elephant carvings of Ganesh, and scarves!

Monday is another free day, spent primarily on my patio while using the computer and listening to music. Tonight, we have our final group dinner at the hotel. Tomorrow, lots of travel to come! Goodbye Goa, it’s been fun!

Mumbai Experience

Monday July 26th to Friday July 30th, 2010:

It was a very long day of travel for us to get to Mumbai from Ahmedabad, India. We left the MICA campus in Ahmedabad around 4:45am (while the Indian students' rave party was still going strong from the night before!) and drove to the airport. We had lots of security stops and minor delays but finally made it onto our flight to Mumbai. After arrival, we checked into the Taj President Hotel, had a quick lunch, and then immediately boarded a bus for a driving tour of Mumbai. By that point, it was late afternoon and we all had a hard time staying awake for the tour! The poor tour guide was only speaking to half the group at any given point. However, he seemed to be fixated on telling us about the Mumbai bombings that took place two years ago, so most of his lecture was regarding the terrorists, the number of bodies found in particular places, etc. Plus, he went into graphic detail on the way Farsi people handle their dead (they leave them to be eaten by vultures). So, overall, definitely not my favorite tour guide experience of the trip.

Arriving in Mumbai was interesting. It definitely has the largest population (nearly 20 million) and therefore the highest percentage of slums that we have seen in India so far. According to our tour guide, there are roughly 4 million living in slums in Mumbai, another 4 million that are wealthy and living in high-end houses and apartments, and the remaining 16 million are in "middle-class" housing that ranges from old studio apartment buildings (with the bathrooms shared at the ground floor) to low-end homes. The poverty was overwhelming. I can't imagine how the problem can be fixed, when it would displace so many people to even repair or replace the dwellings and land is at such a premium. People continue to move to Mumbai daily, however, because it is the commercial capital of India and there are many jobs to be found here.

We did see some interesting places in Mumbai, however. There is an interesting history that we learned about a man named Chhattrapathi Shivaji, who drove Muslims out of the state of Maharashtra in the 1700's. He was later crowned Emperor by the Hindi people and is considered to be a local hero. The train station (formerly the "Victoria Terminus") and the Museum (formerly the "Prince of Wales Museum") have been recently re-named after him. There is a statue of him near the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai as well. Other interesting sites we toured were the Hanging Garden and Nariman Point.

The next day (Tuesday July 27th) we had two agency visits that took the majority of the day. The first asked to remain unnamed on any internet postings, so although we had a very interesting discussion about Indian culture and advertising and I took several photos, I won’t be able to post them. The second visit we had was with the Mudra agency again, this time the Mumbai office. It was a wonderful visit. We had a presentation by Mr. Arijit Ray (President of Mudra India-West) that would have been a perfect capstone lecture for our Engagement class last semester. He basically talked about the need to create an emotional “brand world” to cut through ad clutter and product similarity. He also highlighted the importance of moving from logic to “magic” in ads, and shifting from a share-of-market (transaction) focus to a share-of-customer (relationship) focus. His keys to a good ad: evocative, emotion-stirring, memorable, distinctive, focused on a key idea. Favorite quote from the presentation: “It’s no longer who we are up against (our category), but who we want to be amongst (idea leaders)”.


Wednesday July 28th was a free day. My roommate and I had stayed up till nearly 2am drinking wine and talking, so we slept until after 11am. We got lunch at the hotel and then spent the day shopping and touring. We had a really fun time shopping for scarves at the Oberoi hotel shops (complete with Kashmiri tea and a potential suitor for Allison!) and then spent several hours at the Prince of Wales museum. It was a fun day, with some very successful purchases made.

Our final full day in Mumbai (Thursday July 29th) included a visit to Reliance Media Works. We got to screen some not-yet-released Bollywood movie previews and received an interesting lecture on the digital intermediary process that occurs on films (including color timing, retouching, scoring, etc.). It was very cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Indian movie industry. They had the original chairs from Three Idiots in the lobby, so we were allowed to take photos in them after our meeting. Next stop, Goa Beach!