On the menu for Monday, Oct. 24

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Okay, a couple of notes about this evening's class.

• For the first part, we'll be visited by Erika Cohen of Business NH magazine.

Erika runs a program that gives writing students a chance to collaborate with her in developing a piece for publication.

In the past couple of years, it's been part of the Media Writing course at UNH-Manchester. And so it shall be this semester!

Under Erika's guidance (and with my help, too), you'll each develop a short feature story for possible including in a future edition of Business NH.

In class, Erika will have a lot more details about how the program works.

In terms of how it counts as part of the classwork, it'll be included in the "writing assignment" portion of your grade.

So you will be required to complete a piece, but there's no guarantee of publication.

• Also, we'll go over the radio commercials and other recent assignments, review for the upcoming mid-term, and start discussing 'Into Thin Air.'

See you in class Monday night!

Follow-up to class on Monday, Oct. 17

From the N.H. Sunday News of Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016.

Couple of notes from last night's class.

But first, check out the above article, which is about a local road race in honor of James Foley, the reporter from New Hampshire who was killed by terrorists.

Notice the picture of the sign. They used 'that' for a person instead of 'who.'

Okay, maybe it's not a crime. But it strikes me as an unfortunate way to honor someone who worked with words.

Good writing matters.

* * *
Before last night's quiz, I neglected to hand out the usual "round-up" sheet that summarizes the week's reading and writing assignments.

A few people received it, but most of you left before I realized I hadn't passed it out.

So here it is below. Plus, I've e-mailed it to everyone just to make sure you have it.

Please let me know any questions. More to come...

CA 500 MEDIA WRITING: WEEK 7 WRITING, READING ASSIGNMENTS
Instructor: Adjunct Professor Jeff Rapsis
E-mail: jeffrapsis@gmail.com • Phone: (603) 236-9237

WRITING: ONE ASSIGNMENT DUE via e-mail BY FRIDAY, OCT. 21

• Please write the text for a :30 radio script for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

Please see separate assignment sheet. I'll post some script examples on the class blog.

Format: Send to me via e-mail as a .doc attachment. Use the e-mail to explain your pitch to “Ben.”

BLOG:

• Please get a minimum of at least one post on your blog.

Also, from now on, please include some type of art in each post.

Also, from now on, please include keywords or metatags for each post, as appropriate.

Due: Friday, Oct. 21. (I'll be looking at blogs this weekend.)

READING:

• Dynamics book: Review Chapters 1-7 for mid-term. Refer to Chapter 10 for writing assignment.
• Inside Scoop book: Please read Chapters 16, 17, and the Epilogue.

NEXT CLASS: Monday, Oct. 24. See you then!

Notes prior to our class on Monday, Oct. 17

Be honest. Don't you wish we were doing this?

Hi everyone,

Okay, rounding up what we'll do in class this week.

• Go over mid-term exam. Hand out Study Guide and discuss. (It's also posted as a page on this blog.)

• Review 'Long Copy' essays from last week. Discuss Ogilvy handout.

• Review quiz essays from last week.

• Sign up for one-on-one sessions for class on Monday, Nov 21.

INTERMISSION

• Discuss 'The Inside Scoop' and assign final reading.

• Talk about script writing and "Theater of the Mind." Go over Chapter 10 in Dynamics of Media Writing: 'Writing for Broadcast.'

• Hand out script-writing assignment.

• Look at blogs and discuss, as time allows.

• Quiz!

Also, I've been going through the blogs and trying to get feedback to everyone.

If you haven't received notes from me just yet, you will soon.

See you all on Monday at 6 p.m.!

Some notes prior to our class on Monday, Oct. 3

Good morning and happy rainy weekend. We need both—the rain and the weekend.

I'm going through material for our class and wanted to chime in with a couple of things that have come up.

1. About the blogs: A few people have asked if I'm expecting a blog post for this week.

Sorry to not be clear about this. No requirement to post anything prior to our class on Monday, Oct. 3.

We'll talk about blogs and go over this in class. After that—yes, time to get posting!

However, no problem if you've already started posting. The more, the better.

2. This week's writing assignment: A reminder that I do expect you to take a stab at writing Web copy.

I expect these by end of today. If it's not clear what you should come up with, let me post one example that I've already received.

The copy below is from Joe Riley. I think Joe did a pretty good job at getting the basic info needed, and also capturing the spirit of Ben & Jerry's.

I've formatted it below, using the exact writing he submitted, with no corrections.

“Dazs” Ben & Jerry’s
Have What it Takes to Survive?

We regret to inform you, due to an unforeseen conflict, Ben & Jerry’s will have to start actively campaigning against the Pillsbury Corporation and its subsidy, Häagen-Dazs.

On March 30th, 1984 our distributors were given an ultimatum. They were to either carry Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s. The distributors were told to stop carrying Ben & Jerry’s by July 9th, or they were going to lose Häagen-Dazs for good.

The Pillsbury Corporation is a $4 billion company, it owns Burger King, Bennigan's, and our friend on the shelf, Häagen-Dazs. We own... well let’s just say, not much.

Our Distributors are vital to us and our growth. As we do not own our own distribution, we depend heavily on them to keep us in your local stores.This ultimatum not only affects us, but it affects our distributors as well. While we want our distributors to do all the they can to keep us in the store, we know that without Häagen-Dazs many of them would not be able to make a living.

What we need now is for you, our loyal customers, to help us fight the Pillsbury Doughboy. This is not only about supporting an ice cream brand, it is about sending a message. We believe in the freedom of choice. We believe in the American dream. But most of all, we believe that what the Pillsbury Corporation is doing is illegal.

So what we ask is that you do what you can to support our fight. You, the customer, the consumer, our friends, have helped us grow this business into something more than we ever have thought possible. We are indebted to the community. Pillsbury’s unfair restriction they are trying to place go against everything we believe in.

Join the fight, toast the Doughboy

So if you're feeling clueless, Joe did a good job at coming up with something that would work well for a Web announcement.

Take special note of how the copy is broken into chunks. And also how long each chunk is.

Any questions, please let me know.

See you all on Monday evening for more writing adventures!