Alcohol, marketing, complete presentation-noob

March 25, 2009 10:13 AM

Presentation question: doing a presentation / discussion of Absolut vodka for an audience of 50+ freshman university peeps. Need some help organizing and making presentation less snore-worthy.

I have all of my research done and all the facts and terms I want them to remember figured out (certain terms will be in their exam, and so they will be emphasized)

1. What is the best way to organize all of this into approx 15 minutes of storyline narrative? I want to cover history, financial information, marketing through fashion, art, and music.

2. What are some cool things I could do (besides bringing samples to 19 year olds) to make it memorable and less-sucky? Are brief videos good? Anything else?

3. Please keep in mind this is completely non-profit, I'm not related to Absolut in any way, I'm just using them as an example for a marketing class.

Thank you guys!

posted by ttyn to education (9 comments total)

What is the best way to organize all of this into approx 15 minutes of storyline narrative?

The history of famous people getting drunk on Absolut vodka, and the hilarity that ensued.

Winston Churchill: Plymouth Gin :: ? : Absolut Vodka
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 10:16 AM on March 25

I assume you are showing them Zach Galifianakis' Absolut Vodka ad.
posted by R. Mutt at 10:25 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]

Presentation Judo is my favorite place for ideas for good presentations.
posted by anadem at 10:39 AM on March 25 [4 favorites]

I don't doubt that you're doing this already, but you might be able to hold their attention for a moment or two by pointing out the way Absolut has used almost completely explicit images of vulvas to promote their flavored line, presumably meant to appeal more to women.
posted by jamjam at 10:39 AM on March 25

Forgetting about the Absolut part of the presentation for a moment, how well-versed are you in presenting in general? Have you taken a Management Communications class? If you're using software such as PowerPoint, do you know what goes into making a good slideshow?

Being a competent, well-prepared presenter is most of the battle. You need to have rehearsed your presentation multiple times. Minimize verbal tics and nervous body language. Project. Etc.

Remember that your slideshow is a tool, not a crutch. It should have bullet points not paragraphs. Images should be high-quality, and when you resize them it should be proportionally (not squished or stretched). If you show commericals or other media, embed them in your presentation.
posted by radioamy at 10:52 AM on March 25

If there's a way for you to show the recent challenge from RuPaul's Drag Race where four drag queens do a runway show, each of them embodying a different flavor of Absolut vodka, I'd say definitely go for it.
posted by hermitosis at 10:57 AM on March 25

These are great! Please keep them coming; both content and style ideas are welcome.
posted by ttyn at 11:00 AM on March 25

Seconding minimising tics. When I was at school we had someone come in from outside to do a presentation on drink driving (UK, so driving and drinking ages are somewhat similar). Now, this was a serious topic, and his presentation would've been good.

If not for various verbal tics.

Unfortunately, he had a rather unfortunate mannerism when speaking (I can't remember what it was), that had a group of us cracking up. This was made worse by the class joker muttering various lines to a small group of us.

It would've been ok, but for the fact that he thought we were laughing at the content of the presentation. Somewhat outraged that we were treating this weighty matter frivolously, he proceeded to move onto the "after" pictures of drink driving car crashes - lots of crushed metal, blood and gore on the roads etc.

Sadly, he initiated the slides with "...and I dare anybody to laugh at what you're about to see".

Really not a good thing to say to a bunch of juvenile school kids. The attempts to muffle our laughter just made us hysterical, and needless to say we were dragged up before the head.
posted by djgh at 11:13 AM on March 25

i used to have the abslout book ( i was obsessed with their ads when i was in high school). i think there's some cool anecdotes about the team behind the campaign plus some ads that never made it out of the drawing room.

have you been in contact with the company? i wrote to them when i was 14 and after ascertaining thru a second letter from my mom that i was indeed interested in their marketing not the vodka, they sent me a whole slew of prints of their upcoming ads for the year.

maybe absolut would have some sort of similar of cool stuff you could give away during class for staying awake, i mean answering questions. (keychains and other assorted baubles one would normally get on "absolut night" at the local pub.)
posted by sio42 at 11:17 AM on March 25