NEWS - Savannah Area Breaking News
Written by Lou Phelps Saturday, 15 October 2011 21:01
SBJ Staff Report
Oct 20, 2011 – Thinking about going back to college to advance your career? A free college fair event featuring 100 Georgia and out of state colleges and universities are coming to Savannah on Weds. 0ct. 26.
The free fair will offer guidance to high school and adult students at the PROBE College Fair Weds. Oct 26 at Oglethorpe Mall from 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The fair is free and open to high school students and their families, and any prospective student.
The eight-week fall PROBE tour consists of 61 college fairs held at various schools and venues across the state of Georgia. GEAC’s mission is to stimulate interest in post-secondary education for citizens of Georgia by bringing together students, parents, counselors, administrators and representatives of post-secondary educational institutions including colleges and vocational-technical schools.
The tour stops provide local high school students a chance to speak one-on-one with representatives from colleges and universities in one central location. “For many families, finding the time and resources, especially with the price of gas, to visit colleges and universities is tough,” according to Bill Smith, executive director of PROBE.
“By bringing the PROBE college fair to the students, they are able to be exposed to schools they might not otherwise have a chance to experience.”
For more information and to view the entire fall schedule please visit http://www.gaprobe.org.
The tour was created by the Georgia Education Articulation Committee was founded in the early 1980’s, GEAC formed a committee consisting of various secondary and post-secondary education professionals from throughout the state of Georgia. The committee created “PROBE: A look into post-secondary education,” a program which helps improve communication between high school students and higher educational institutes.
NEWS - Savannah Area Breaking News
Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 October 2011 07:53 Written by From Staff Reports Sunday, 09 October 2011 16:51
SBJ Staff Report
Oct 12, 2011 - Clark Creative Design of Savannah was selected to create and launched Savannah Mall's new website which makes use of multiple access platforms, social media and interactive web technology. The site’s URL is www.savannahmall.com.
"It's clear that the old model of relying solely on print ads and a website for retail environments like Savannah Mall has been replaced by a spectrum of social media tools and platforms," according to Cari Clark Phelps, Creative Director at Clark Creative. "We approached the project by building as many inroads to the site as possible, so that however a consumer likes to get information, the site can provide it."
The site integrates a daily deal page with "What's In Store" posts about sales and promotions from Savannah Mall retailers. Consumers can get that information in many ways: by visiting the website, by email, on Facebook, Twitter, or by text message. Checking in by FourSquare offers rewards of its own. FourSquare is one of the latest entrants of the social media platforms; it allows users to identify the current location of their friends and family members. Knowing the location of users, FourSquare allows businesses to ‘push’ offers out to potential customers near their store or business.
"There are several layers of deals that shoppers can enjoy," said Savannah Mall Marketing Director Senea Crystal. "In addition to our daily deals, we have Featured Deals which are short-term, higher value discounts. Our best offering is our new preferred shopper program, the Insider. Insiders get the best deals, the deepest discounts and first notice of sales. And it's free!"
The site has two interactive areas. The Mall Directory is an interactive map, allowing viewers to click on stores in the map to see what they are, or click on the store name to find the store location. The individual merchant profiles spotlight that retailer's location, sales, job openings and available discounts (such as military or student).
And, there is an interactive graphic of the mall with rollovers that provide information as the mouse is hovered or clicked, including business hours, special seasonal parking arrangements, and movie times for all of the stores, businesses and services of the Savannah Mall.
"There are all kinds of data showing that many people access websites today with their smartphones, so we concurrently designed a mobile version of the site to make sure that the mobile experience was just as effortless as the computer-based experience," Clark Phelps added. "Plus, it's a great perk that a shopper can check for deals while they're at the mall!"
The agency included a QR (Quick Response) code campaign for posters and printed materials (such as handheld directories). The QR code can be captured with a smartphone camera and read with one of many free apps (a variety of popular QR code readers. The code then connects the phone directly to the web page it promotes.
"It was a great challenge to integrate all of these forms of access into the site," continued Phelps. Our goal was to make shopping easy, fun, interactive, and help the consumer save money-and it was rewarding to see it all come together."
