Hughson, S. Week 4

Welcome to week 4!!

There are several different experiences that we went on these past few days that I will share with you! This includes our visits to Tipping Point Communications, the Key Banks Center, Watkins Glen International, and WETM-TV.

Tipping Point Communications is an advertising agency that works with other companies, large and small, with their own media and advertising strategies including media buying, public relations, digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, and focus groups. I found this visit to be extremely informative and exciting. They spoke to us as if we were on the same level as them and inspired us to go into whatever field we want to and to be passionate about it. They were very easy to listen to and made us hope that we enjoy our jobs as much as they do in the future. One key aspect I took from this trip was how important their core values are such as integrity, trust, likeability, teamwork and others. Along with this they really showed us the steps they take towards making and capitalizing on marketing leads and lead generation.


On the same day we traveled to Buffalo to talk to some of Pegula Sports and Entertainment's marketers. This trip was not only very cool because we were able to tour the entire Buffalo Sabres arena from the entrance to the Lexus suite to the media room and finally the actual Sabres locker room! As a hockey player who has been to the Key Banks Center to watch the Sabres play a few times it was a completely new experience to see it from different levels and a new perspective besides as a customer or as a hockey player who has played in an arena like it.

As a marketer you really see all the sponsorships and companies that advertise strategically throughout the arena and everything that you can do with a facility as large and versatile as the Key Bank center. When we sat down after our tour we really were able to see what they both do for advertising the arena and the teams that they hold. We were taught how their are different markets you can target but you have to be careful how you do so.





The next was Watkins Glen International which is the famous race track in Watkins Glen. We were first given a tour of the PR and media facility which was an amazing center full of resources and everything one would need. This included photography rooms, the press conference room, and upstairs media rooms along with a dining hall for meals. It was a fairly new center and I cannot imagine how crazy and packed it gets on big race or event days.

When we sat down and were able to get an idea of how the company runs from the marketing, sales, and PR perspectives it was amazing to me at how many markets the track reaches. The only thing I knew about the track before visiting was that it sometimes holds NASCAR events but it was interesting to find out that they actually have several different events such as the Wine festival and concerts that require them to target and market to almost every different segment out there. 

They have to be able to understand how to market to women, men, teenagers, children, as well as people of a vast range of incomes from billionaires who come to drive their million dollar cars on the track to those who come for NASCAR on a family get away weekend. I loved learning at how they are able to successfully reach all these groups and use their facility to as many events as they can. To end the trip we were even able to take our TERPS bus for two laps around the track!


Lastly, we visited WETM-TV down the street from campus in the city of Elmira. This was a new trip for us as we visited a well known television station where the focus was on TV marketing. We learned from our books that television marketing is still a huge market for companies to invest in because of its ability to reach a vast amount of viewers and potential consumers. At WETM-TV we were able to learn how they reach other companies to sell ad space and this is what helps them as a company as well as other companies for their own advertising. The best part about this trip was that we were able to watch the news being streamed live not only from inside the studio but from the producing room as well which was a completely new view on the daily news.

A very exciting and eventful week full of experiences and trips!