Tammy

Tammy Yang Portfolio

Contents Resume

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Letters of Recommendation

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Creative Communications Samples

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Writing Sample

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Resume

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T A M M Y Y A N G Email: [email protected] Web: WWW.TAMMYANG.COM

EDUCATION Bachelor of Science in Advertising University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Overall GPA 3.2/4.0 Major GPA 3.84/4.0

2009 Champaign, IL

RELEVANT COURSES Class Campaigns Public Relations Statistics

Behavior Management Creative Strategies Popular Culture

History of Communication Social Context of Media Introduction to Advertising

SKILLS Computer: Microsoft Office Research: Lexis Nexis; SPSS.

Video & Web: Designed my own website: www.christyiilini.com

EXPERIENCE

Marketing Intern MediaWill Communication • Successfully assisted in launching a new weekly magazine M25 • Organized work related meetings, seminars, and workshops • Maintained records and files in a systematic manner Advertising Intern BBDO Korea • Created a presentation for Pepsi's latest product and helped making sales contacts throughout related companies • Translated weekly news articles in Korean/English for client Visa USA • Assisted in a making of Visa USA commercial by researching data and organizing meetings

Summer 2007 Seoul, Korea

Summer 2007 Seoul, Korea

Communications Intern Summer 2008 AC Nielsen Korea Seoul, Korea • Used professional Microsoft Excel skills to organize and to chart media-related research results • Contacted several AC Nielsen branch offices to get audience analysis data via emails and phone calls • Participated in meeting with local clients and analyzed several advertisements

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Creative Communication Samples

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How Dell responded to faulty laptop batteries By Tammy Yang

The school year always begins with the routine events: meeting new classmates, registering for classes, and buying countless things. For the year of 2006, in addition to the routine events of the school year, students had to worry about finding a new computer because of the safety recall from Dell. As of August 15th 2006, Dell announced the voluntary recall of 4.1 million notebook computer batteries in response to safety concerns which needed serious attention. Dell reported that there were six incidents since December in which notebooks overheated and caught on fire. None of the incidents resulted in injuries or death. However, the incidents were serious enough for consumers to feel unsecured. A Japanese businessman watched his Dell laptop caught on fire and a worker’s laptop in Illinois melted through the desk. Dell also announced that the lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony and were sold in notebooks from April 2004 to July 18th of 2006. The 2.7 million effected notebooks were sold in the United States and 1.4 million sold internationally (Darlin, 2006, 1). The recall represented nearly 20% of the 22 million Dell notebooks sold during that time period (Computerweekly.com, 2007) According to an analyst, the problem was caused within the manufacturing process and Sony also confirmed its responsibility with the issue. The company provided a specific website https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/ to guide consumers through the process of recalling batteries. Dell listed several features to identify whether a battery was affected or not. The cost of the recalling process easily exceeded $300 million, which was financially supported by Sony. Many notebook users faced an unexpected dilemma like having a computer plugged in to the wall all the time and taking extra precautions until new replacement arrived in approximately two weeks (Rothman, 2006). Since this was the largest safety recall in history, countless press media responded to it immediately. The New York Times first reported the issue with a distracting image of exploded pick-up truck that caught ion fire from a Dell notebook computer. A dell notebook in the cab of a pickup parked alongside Lake Mead in Nevada caught fire, igniting ammunition in the glove box and then the gas tanks. The truck exploded. “A few minutes later and we’d have been coming up out of the canyon when the notebook blew up,” said Thomas Forqueran, owner of the computer and truck. “Somebody is going to wind up getting killed” (Darlin, 2006, 2).

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The New York Times focused on the fact that affected batteries were mass-distributed. “The safety agency said the batteries’ problems were not unique to Dell, meaning that other companies using Sony batteries might also have to issue recalls. Sony has sold its batteries to most of the major computer makers” (Darlin, 2006, 1). He also included the responses of several other companies including Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo to Dell’s recall of batteries. An Apple spokeswoman, Lynn Fox, said “We are currently investigating whether batteries that have been supplied to Apple for our current and previous notebook lines meet our high standards for battery safety and performance.” A Hewlett-Packard spokesman said the company’s notebooks would not be affects by the recall because its batteries were designed specifically for its products (Darlin, 2006, 3). According to Darlin, the battery producers were aware of the ability of lithium-ion batteries to catch fire since its first commercial use in 1991. He stated “the current recall was leaving many questions unanswered on how Dell, as well as the product safety commission, deals with information about fire-damaged notebooks” (Darlin, 2006, 5).. Although Dell had reported there were only six incidents related to batteries catching on fire, countless videos and images of melted notebooks were found since 2002. Time reported the incident more critically. It criticized Dell’s irresponsible response to the issue and absurd remarks to the public. “Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could cause a risk of fire”. The article criticized that “the recall itself could be Dell’s voluntary response to a well-publicized laptop fire that occurred earlier this summer at a business meeting in Osaka, Japan” (Rothman, 2006, 1). However, Dell responded that the investigation for battery recall was in progress before the incident happened. Linda Tucci, a senior news writer from SearchCIO.com also dealt with this issue in several aspects. The recall resulted both positive and negative effects on Dell’s future publicity. Though the issue affected both Dell and Sony, the public predicted that Dell would be the one who would have a larger negative impact on its reputation among customers. Experts also forecasted that if Dell handles the issue well with the right message, the incident would quickly disappear in history. Because Dell took a proactive approach to this issue, there was “the nearly 4% increase in the company’s foundering share price by close of day Tuesday (Tucci, 2006, 1). The article also criticized the current market consumers who still look for smaller, thinner, and lighter notebooks. Because of this trend manufacturers produce “jam-packed” notebooks which also contributed to the risk of fire. An analyst, Carmi Levy

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said, “These are smaller, sleeker, hotter machines that generate more heat because they have less volume to dissipate the heat properly…My only surprise is that it’s taken this long to happen” (Tucci, 2006, 2). Dell, “long a highflier on Wall Street” (Darlin, 2006, 2) took this incident to upgrade its public image through announcing a voluntary recall. It first tried to appeal to the consumers that the company was not the one who should be blamed for this issue. Dell constantly brought Sony into the issue by stating that the batteries manufactured and distributed by Sony, not Dell. Dell also reported the company was working in corporation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, to ensure consumers that the company was taking the problem seriously. Dell quickly provided a website, specifically designed to return affected batteries and ship replacements. CIO Larry Thomas assigned three or four staff members to professionally handle the job of retrieving batteries to make the process smoother and easier (Tucci, 2006). The corporate executives expected that the recall would prevent further damage to its public image and reputation. Dell also reported that the company was confident that Sony had found the problem and changed its manufacturing methods. The senior vice president and general manager of the product group at Dell said, “we are absolutely confident that when we replace the batteries that we are getting the at-risk batteries out of consumers’ hands and that there will be no more incident” (Darlin, 2006, 5). Dell should have handled the issue in different manner. Despite Dell’s voluntary recall, the company could not stop a lawsuit over fire-hazard laptop batteries. Since Dell was aware of the battery issue and had an ongoing investigation, they should have acted faster to maintain a better reputation with the customers. The images of burning Dell laptops were uploaded and displayed on the internet for several weeks before the company’s recall. Dell could not prevent the media criticism that Dell was only responding to the issue because they were afraid of bad publicity which would further cause a decline in consumer sales and took this as an opportunity to reach out to customers. “It is part of a long-term strategy to build back the trust of consumers,” said Richard Shim, a PC industry analyst at IDC (Rothman, 2006). However, since Dell was the only company which announced the voluntary safety recall, some consumers still appreciated the approach and favored the company. Consumers are critical when it comes down to health related incidents. Prior to Dell’s recall, images of burning laptops were already available on-line for consumers to view. Therefore the recall only seemed as a reaction to the bad publicity. Dell however used this incident well and took it as a chance to reach out to customers. It illustrates how the media can affect the way the public apprehends the issue. The media plays a crucial role in our

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world. The public would only believe what the media shows us. People would only react upon what they were told. Therefore, how the company deals with the incident determines the outcome of the event.

Bibliography Darlin, D. (2006, August 15). Dell will recall PC batteries. New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/technology/ 15battery.html?_ r=1&oref=slogin Dell laptop battery recall: the expert view. (2007, May 18). Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http:// www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/05/18/223974/dell-laptop-battery-recall-the-expert-view.htm Tucci, L. (2006, August 16). Dell battery recall has upside. Retrieved October, 6, 2008, from http:// searchcio.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid182 _gci1210929,00.html# Rothman, W. (2006, August 15). Dell’s battery recall: how bad is the danger? Time. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599, 1227219,00. html

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