Portfolio of Zenobia

Ballim20080604

2

Portfolio of

Zenobia Ballim

I have chosen this presentation as a means of execution to present my experiences as an academic and of 2012.My inspiration comes from two family members that have always motivated me to do well with my studies . Unfortunately 2012 has been a very emotional year as I have lost two family members on the same day and have had my fair share of traumatic sagas. My motivators have always said that I present myself well and I am a survivor through any storm. At the beginning of the year I felt over-joyed to be given the opportunity to do my Honours in Strategic Communications. My motivators were so proud that I graduated with a degree and were proud that I was given this opportunity to further my education.However, after the heart-breaking loss defeat seemed like the best option. Fortunately I came to my senses and have dedicated this year of hard work to ones I have lost and to the ones that have been through the storm with me.

Rationale

• About me

• Summary CV

• Revlon Assignment

• Trends assignment

• Digital Assignment

• Brand Scan

• Research Essay

Overview

• S.A Music Press Release

• Sub-Culture presentation

• Human Communications Essay

• Protest Presentation

• Internship

• Blog for Ogilvy

Read the reflection and click on hyperlinks to view assignments

About

Me

• Zenobia Ballim• 200806042• BA Corporate

Communications• Currently studying Honours

Strategic Communications

To find out more about my adventurous year of 2012, follow Content\About Me\About Me 2.pdf

Summary CV

Source: Content\CV\summary CV.pdf

Revlon Assignment

What is the Revlon Assignment all about?

Research focuses on:

This assignment looks at the various trends and drivers in an ever-changing environment.

It focuses on females, branding, campaigning and their products.

It looks at the movements of femininity that the business world has gone through and Revlon itself.

The following lessons were learnt during the duration of this project:

• The research steps and how to apply it to a company

• The finer workings i.e. day to day operational workings of Revlon, specifically their focus on femininity

• This project was a starting point to develop research skills and acquire the knowledge about research and the research process

• This was a group project in 3rd year and it taught me how to deal with group politics, listen to others’ ideas and communicate effectively with the group

• We did very well for this project in Corporate Communications 3 and gave us the confidence to do more research.

Source: Content\Revlon\revlon 3rd yr.pdf

5,352,900

Source: Content\SA Music Press Release\Creative Rationale 2.pdf

What the project was about?To actively engage with research in order to develop insight identificationApply lateral thinking to create a piece that adheres to 3 parametersThe 3 parameters chosen were:

Writing South African Music (SA)Press Release

The process:

What the project was about?

To actively engage with research in order to develop insight identification. Apply lateral thinking to create a piece that adheres to 3 parameters, The 3 parameters that I chose was; Writing, South African Music (SA) and a

press release.

The process:

Reflection:

I thoroughly enjoyed Conrad’s creative conceptualisation classes, because it allowed me to “let my hair down”. It allowed me to feel free in my thinking and executions as I was able to give reason for “creative ideas”.

This specific assignment allowed me to take various platforms that music was compiled on and compose a press release. I took LPs, cassettes, CDs, Mp3s and the internet as platforms and the press released was centred on the LP. The press release was on both sides of the LP. It represented my research findings and ideas.

This assignment allowed me to follow the above research process and end at my execution. It allowed me to be engaged in the research, use lateral thinking skills and be different in the execution.

Research Findings Brief Positioning Creative platform/the big idea

Reflection:• Conrad’s creative conceptualization classes were thoroughly enjoyable, as it

provided the means for creative and free thinking processesThe conceptualization classes provided the mechanism for the generation of “creative ideas”

• The SA Music Press Release project allowed for the generation of the respective Press Release to be compiled on the various platforms which has been used for music in the present as well the past.

• LPs, cassettes, CDs, MP3s, and the internet were the chosen platforms, and the Press Release was centred on the LP. The Press Release was on both sides of the LP, and this represented the respective findings and ideas.

• This assignment allowed for the following of the abovementioned research process and end at execution.

• It allowed me to engage in the research, use lateral thinking skills and be different in the execution

S.A Music Press

Release

Sub-culture

Presentation

Source 1: Content\Sub-cultures powerpoint presentation\kholvads (2).pptxSource 2: Content\Sub-cultures powerpoint presentation\Rationale.pdf

What was the assignment about?• The brief entailed that research be completed

on any sub-culture which has unique characteristics to that sub-culture.

• The research was executed in a “Pecha-Kucha”, which is 20 slides showing at 20 seconds each.

• The aim of the assignment was to investigate a sub-culture that would lead to further insight.

Reflection:A friend’s sub-culture was chosen as the investigative topic, because I have always been fascinated with various cultures, religions and sub-cultures. She was getting engaged in a few weeks’ time and I was actively involved in the ceremony, it was interesting to learn about how things work in her sub-culture. This was a fun experience and doing the presentation was a warm-feeling of satisfaction and understanding. The presentation has added visuals, wording, animations and music effects.

Human Communicati

ons Essay

Source: Content\Communication Theory Human Communications Essay\Essay on communications.pdf

What is the assignment about?

• The topic of the essay was to critically discuss the idea that “human beings are uniquely gifted with communication that enables us to collectively form and build theories by which to function with ever-greater capacity”.

• This essay had to have a valid argument that correlated with the topic.

• The study concluded that humans communicate through shared meanings and communications is negotiated.

Reflection:

This essay taught me the communications process and the various forms of communications.Further research had to be done to analyse theories and theorists work in order to determine if my argument was valid.Proper essay writing techniques were learnt and specific technicalities were adhered to. The values I learnt was to be specific, unpack the topic and stick to the argument. It is always a good feeling to achieve a good mark when you have put your all into an assignment, and you get recognition and understanding from a communications perspective.

Protest Presentatio

n

Source: Content\Protest\Protest doc.pdf

What was the assignment about?This assignment was to discover the root of anger, disapproval or disagreement within an assigned group or individual. This was executed in a form of a digital protest. This was a continuous sequential process. As a group we came up with a group name, logo, slogan and ideas to use in the protest.

Reflection:

We decided to do something light-hearted and we chose the idea of protesting against wearing sunglasses at night.

This inspired our logo, group name and slogan. It was a fun filled task, because as a group there was no politics and everyone enjoyed the task. This task let me be free and learn to have some fun in this really stressful year. It allowed me to interact and make new friends. We were all able to agree on some ideas and communicate effectively.

Internship

Internship at Alexander Forbes in the Communications department

Source: Content\Internship\Diary entries about internship at Alexander Forbes.pdf

Blog For

Ogilvy

Source 1:Content\Blog\blog site.jpgSource 2:Content\Blog\549649_10151025160672102_1488662797_n.jpg

What was the task about?

The Strategic Communications students were briefed by Ogilvy professionals and Clarissa Muir, that a blog was to be developed on the topic of our choice.

We had to design the blog on Wordpress and register it with Ogilvy. Ogilvy will look at the blog regularly and at the end of the year the winning student will receive their fees back and a job at Ogilvy amongst other perks.

Reflection:

• I decide to do a blog on stories/sagas through digital platforms, because I feel that the digital world plays a huge impact on our lives and will continue onto next generations. My blog is called Digisaga (http://digisaga.wordpress.com/) and I post updates on experiences, stories and ideas that are created or captured through some form of digital platform.

• This task has taught me how to use a blog and I find it to be a useful means of communication.

• As stated by my blog the digital world is inspirational and interactive therefore this task has proven my assumptions and made me open to the digital world.

Trends Assignment

Source: Content\trends\trends doc.pdf

What was the assignment about?

• The task was to identify trends from the Zeitgest and Map of the Decade.

• The aim was to identify and be involved in trendwatching. The trends were interpreted and related to what is happening in the world.

• The Map of the Decade and the Zeitgeist provides an overview of the major trends that are impacting on individuals, society, business and government.

• Taking these into account, one major trend at each level was to be selected, and which impacts the most on the practice of the Corporate or Marketing Communication profession. The drivers each trend was to discussed and show how it will impact on the profession, i.e. has the profession made a shift to the Post-modern paradigm? A chain of evidence in your discussion was provided and the content related back to the course content.

Reflection:This assignment taught me how to look for research from various sources and apply the knowledge. From the information acquired I came up with a self-coined ubertrend called “techno-networks” to describe how various aspects are relying and using the internet and social networks.

DigitalAssignment

Source: Content\Digital\Digital doc.pdf

What was the assignment about?

The topic was strategic digital platforms leading the brand in the digital sphere. This topic could be dealt with in any method and a theory had to be used for the argument.

Reflection:

I am all about the digital sphere and the manner in which experiences are created through the digital space, therefore I used the Phenomenological Theory to describe the experience. I learnt more on the various platforms and how it is used for the digital consumer.

Brand Scan

Source 1: Content\Melville Brand scan and tasks\brand scan.pdf2: Content\Melville Brand scan and tasks\survey appendix B brand scan.pdf3: Content\Melville Brand scan and tasks\strategy- presentation 1 insights.pdf4: Content\Melville Brand scan and tasks\presentation 2- place branding.pdf5: Content\Melville Brand scan and tasks\5 seasons.pdf

What is the brand scan about?The brand scan is a compilation of the research done on the greater Melville area. This area includes Melville, Sophiatown, Westdene, Emmarentia and Auckland Park. This research process involved both quantitative and qualitative techniques. It included interviews, focus groups, 3way sorts, projective techniques, obituaries and observations. This was to emphasise that we were looking down at Melville from a bird’s eye view and to emphasise that Melville’s secret is in the scale of the architecture and it brings in a cultural and diverse community. We had to present our mood board in a creative manner. As a group we decided to do a role play depicting the 3-way sort and the relevant findings and explained our mood board. The mood board was a 3-D board of the greater Melville area. The final brand scan resembled all the data being put together. This was a process of continuous research. Reflection:Being involved in the actual research helped me better understand the techniques in the various methodologies. This ground research provided for a better a understanding. It was definitely experiential. The interviews showed that everyone has a story and this narratology actually inspired me for my blog in the sense that there is a story behind everything. This project highlighted my post-modern approach by doing everything through effective communications and being immersed in an environment to get better understandings of the area, the positives, the negatives and the people. This was the first time doing a mood board and it really tested my ability to be creative.

I learnt how to follow different techniques to gather information, look for samples, observe the area of topic, work in groups, test my creativity and how to present insights and findings to an audience.

Research Essay

Source: Content\Research Essay\3 Final doc.pdf

What was this assignment about?

The research essay was based on the research study to ‘explore the role of sustainable competitive advantage in the rebranding of Melville as a neighbourhood brand according to a selected group of stakeholders.’ The research essay involved thorough research.

Reflection:

This was a time consuming project and allowed me to be immersed in the research in Melville. I had to communicate with a variety of people in the streets of Melville. Time management was key and tested my knowledge to the limit.

Support System

POEM

It broke our hearts to loose you But you never went aloneFor a part of us went with youThe day god took you home

A million times we will miss youA million times we criedIf love could have saved youYou never would have died

To the grave you travelOur flowers placed with careNo one knows the heartache as we leave you there.

If tears could build a stairway and memories could make a laneWe would walk right up to heaven and bring you home again

But you are now with the angels and god in heavenAnd to know you’re watching over us from the sky will help us not to cry

This is for you and I hope to make you proud as you watch over me through sunshine or storm.

In loving memory of Oupa Earlston Edward Mayes & Aunty Shenaaz Caster

THANK YOU