Thursday, July 8, 2010

Day two Madrid:


Day two Madrid:

Well breakfast was delicious, oh wait I didn’t have any! Yup that’s right we slept in. Our original plan was to wake up at nine and eat breakfast but none of us girls woke up until 11:30 am. This still blows my mind because I’m not much of a sleeper but I definitely slept a straight 12 hours and was still exhausted when I woke up. Oh and don’t worry because my stomach was growling. We decided it was about time to get ready for the day because the three of us had to get ready and meet in the lobby at 12:45. We got dressed and showered on time but were definitely in a rush. The blow dryer in the hotel room is redic because it might as well be someone standing next to you blowing on your hair. It takes me about a half hour to 45 minutes just to dry my hair with it. Now that is way too long, so today I splurged and bought a blow dryer at the store. I know what you’re thinking, not a very logical idea to but a European hair dryer but it works for the time being.

So we meet in the lobby at 12:45 thinking we are going to be the last ones down there. Emily ,Allison, Phil and I were sitting down in the lobby confused because no one else was down there. I thought we were either late or they had started with out us. Great! Don’t worry they didn’t, Cesar came down stairs to tell us the speaker was ready. We walk into the lounge room and there was a handsome Spanish man sitting at the table with a silver Mac laptop. The first thing that came to my mind was, great I knew I should have gotten ready earlier. My hair was poufy and frizzy so I put it up in a messy bun but it was just straight messy. Our guest speaker was Antonio Nunez who was extremely cute or should I say muy guapo! I thought I was the only one who felt this way but apparently he was a huge hit with all the girls. I wouldn’t mind if he asked me out on a date… just saying! So after his presentation we were extremely hungry so we left the room right away. As soon as we got to the lobby none of us girls could stop talking about how hot Antonio was so I had the great idea of going back up to the presentation room to take a group picture. Well what I really wanted was just a solo picture with him but I let it slide. Baha. Okay okay enough already about Antonio and on to what he discussed.

Let’s discuss what Antonio was presenting. Antonio Nuñez is in the business of storytelling and branding with Public relations. He has been working in Public relations and communications since he was 18 years old. He mainly works in European agencies but he worked in San Francisco for a couple months. Antonio mentioned he sees communication as something you project such was a script or a movie which I had never heard it being discussed this way. How interesting. He also relates storytelling to be developed in a style such as the game telephone most people played as they were kids. From one person to the next the story changes each time from its original version. Very very true!
Going back to public relations he mentioned that it is all about the influence and a good story and not so much about the money anymore. In Spain, PR professionals are trying to find a new image for their country. The image of Spain in the past has changed and almost evaporated in less than six months. The main things that Spain has generated and produces are: tourism, creating and building cars, and construction. Tourism is the focal aspect of branding to get an image that is recognized worldwide. As for actual brands, none came to my mind when the topic was brought to attention but we soon realized that Spain doesn’t have any well known brands. They have a couple images such as Real Madrid and even people such as Penelope Cruz.
When I think of something that the Country of Spain is well known for is their ritual that happens annually in July, running with the bulls. Along with running there are bull fights and thousands of people come together for this ritual to celebrate. I think Alejandro had so many amazing stories and experiences to share with us but there was a limited time to spend. He was a fantastic speaker, he had terrific eye contact, extremely prepared with a PowerPoint but rarely even glanced over his notes. He was very professional and I felt comfortable with his knowledge of storytelling and branding in Spain.


So after the presentation my stomach was yelling at me for not getting a meal for almost two days now so we hurried off to lunch with Professor Garcia. We went to some delicious traditional Spanish food. I got chicken and tomato fettuccini and it was delicious. It isn’t the typical alfredo fettuccini you think of. It had red sauce and delicious crumbed cheese on top and bread. So good. Everyone’s food looked delicious and it wasn’t satisfying enough so I went for some dessert obviously. Hmm Hmmm flan and don’t forget the whipped cream! YUM!

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