The greatest TED Talk ever sold - Danny Blumenthal

http://www.ted.com/talks/morgan_spurlock_the_greatest_ted_talk_ever_sold.html

For my TED Talk, I watched “The greatest TED Talk ever sold” by Morgan Spurlock. I chose this video because it had a very high rating, and I recognized Spurlock’s name because he is the creator of Super Size Me and the television show 30 Days, as well as many other films and projects. The description of the video is what really drew me in however, because I have always been interested in marketing and advertising, and I have always been fascinated by all of the subtle tricks and skills that are used to effectively market a brand. In this video, Spurlock talks about his experiences that came with making his newest film, which is about product placement and sponsorship. His initial idea was to create an entire movie that explores the concept of product placement in modern films and television shows, but the ironic twist is that he hoped to finance his entire movie by using product placement himself. Needless to say, his idea did not go over very well with many of the big advertising companies, so he decided to cut out the middleman and go directly to the source, and presented his idea directly to companies like Old Navy and Jet Blue. Before doing this though, he explains the process that he went through in order to build his own personal brand. He goes to respected marketing specialists for help, who give him advice on how to better market himself and his ideas.

Morgan Spurlock attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film, in 1993. After graduating, he began his career as a playwright and actually won multiple awards for his play called The Phoenix in 1999. He began to receive notoriety after the release of his first film called Super Size Me in 2004. After the success of his film, he created a documentary style television series called 30 Days, in which he would live a certain lifestyle (ex: coal miner, living on minimum wage, etc) for 30 days. Obviously, some of his success is attributed to having talent as a filmmaker and as a writer. However, the majority of his success seems to come from his hard work and determination. The majority of his documentaries show him overcoming obstacles and being too stubborn to give up. Even in the process of trying to sell his movie idea to large corporations, he is constantly shot down. However, he insists on trying to recreate himself and to improve his ideas and presentation, which is why I believe he has had so much success. He is very open to new ideas and always wants to see things in a new light, which is basically the premise of 30 Days.

Next year I will be studying Business Administration at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. However, after two years, I will have to choose an emphasis within my major such as accounting, economics, etc. I don’t really know what exactly I want to do at the moment, but I am leaning towards either marketing or management. One of the main reasons that I chose Cal Poly is that it has a very good business program, and many of the classes are very hands-on and train students to enter the workforce. I feel like this will be very beneficial to me and will help make my choice much easier after experiencing and learning more about each emphasis. Cal Poly also has a very good reputation for finding internships for its students. Almost everyone that I know that goes there has gotten an internship as a result of the school, and they have all been very happy with their experiences. I am still relatively undecided with what I want to do as a profession, but I hope that after my 4 years of college, I will have found a job that I would really enjoy and would like to pursue.