Innovative Leadership and Entrepreneurship: A Graduate Student's Perspective
Relevent topics, real data.
Author:The Professional Student
Hello, and thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Shawn Smallwood. I'm an Army veteran, a classically trained pastry and savory chef, a former small business owner, and a graduate student who brings a unique perspective to innovative leadership and entrepreneurship.
Welcome back to The Professional Student. Today, I want to dive into another baking edition post and offer tips on making black buttercream and coloring buttercream. I recently made the cake pictured above, and I love the dramatic effect of black buttercream against the gold! The cake is 4 layers of dark chocolate buttermilk cake layered with dark chocolate ganache and a fresh strawberry filling. The buttercream is a dark chocolate Italian meringue.
Coloring buttercream is a challenge, let alone making one of the hardest colors, black. Over the years, I have picked up some tricks and tips that have helped me achieve the colors I want, and I would like to share those with you!
For black buttercream:
Always use a gel-based food coloring, as they are super concentrated.
It is much easier to color chocolate buttercream black than regular white vanilla buttercream.
Gradually add the gel food coloring, mix, and continue to add until you get something close to what you want, as the color will darken as it sits.
If you must use vanilla buttercream, color it dark brown first before adding in black.
Color your buttercream the day before you need it, as the color will develop over night and get darker.
If you’re in a rush, a quick zap in the microwave will help develop the color faster. Just don’t melt your buttercream during the process (this works for any color).
To avoid consuming too much colored buttercream, do an uncolored base coat, allow it to chill in the refrigerator, and coat it again with the colored buttercream. This will also prevent the need to make huge amounts of colored buttercream, as gel food coloring is not cheap and ultimately saves you money.
I will include a link to the black gel food coloring I prefer to use from Amazon. As an Amazon affiliate, I am eligible for a small commission based on clicks and purchases. You might not need a bottle this big, but it does last a long time.
Always use gel food colors, as they are super concentrated. A little goes a long way.
As previously mentioned, it is best to color buttercream the day before use to allow the color to develop, or you may speed the process up with a quick zap in the microwave, but do not melt your buttercream.
Always color a bit lighter, as the buttercream will darken as it develops.
To make colors that pop a little more, use white gel color first, followed by the desired color. Alternatively, you can purchase “bright” or “neon” food colors.
Use a food gel coloring wheel to make specific colors, as it provides the formulas for the colors and the amounts to use.
I will include a link to “neon” or “bright” food colorings I use and have purchased. These are smaller bottles, but larger bottles, such as the link I posted for black gel color, are available on Amazon. It really depends on your needs. When I was operating my own business, I spent well over $450 just on gel food coloring. They’re expensive, and I think folks who don’t bake might not realize that.
I’ve also found for making deeper colors, like a deep red; adding some dark brown can help bring out the red, but not too much, or you’ll have brick red. I believe a deep red and black are two of the hardest colors to achieve, and coloring buttercream is generally tricky.
I hope the tips I have provided and the helpful product links will allow you to easily tackle your next cake or baking project. Thanks for stopping by The Professional Student, and don’t forget to comment, like, and reblog!
Banana Pudding Cheesecake Made by Pastry Chef Shawn Smallwood
Cheesecake is one of my all-time favorite desserts to make! I have a tried and true cheesecake base recipe that can be flavored any way you like to create unique, one-of-a-kind desserts.
I don’t take the traditional route of baking cheesecake in a springform pan and a water bath. Instead, I prefer using regular cake pans to bake cheesecake at a lower temperature. Baking at a lower temperature eliminates the need for a water bath. After the cheesecake cools down, I flip it out to decorate.
If flipping a cheesecake out of a cake pan feels too overwhelming, please use a springform pan if that is what you are comfortable with. Both types of pan work fine for the method described below.
For this recipe, I prefer an 8-inch cake pan that is 4 inches tall or a 10-inch cake pan that is 4 inches tall.
Cake Pan Preparation
Place the cake pan on parchment paper and trace around the bottom. Cut out the outline to make a parchment paper circle that fits perfectly into the bottom of the pan. Be sure to cut off any marker, pencil, or pen marks, as you don’t want that going into the cheesecake.
Spray a small amount of pan spray into the bottom of the cake pan, and place the parchment paper circle into it. A small spray of pan spray will prevent your parchment paper from shifting around.
Liberally spray the entire inside of the cake pan with pan spray.
Crust Preparation
Ingredients
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup AP flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 or 2 TSP ground cinnamon
A dash of salt
1/2 a stick of melted butter
Preheat an oven to 325F.
In a mixing bowl, place 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs. (You may use whatever you like, such as Oreos, shortbread cookies, etc.)
Add in 1/4 cup of AP flour and brown sugar.
Add a dash of salt and 1 or 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, depending on preference.
Pour in 1/2 a stick of melted butter (2 oz).
Whisk the ingredients together until they are sandy in texture, and pour them into the prepared cake pan.
Evenly distribute the crumbs across the bottom of the pan and press them down into a flat and even crust. If there is excess on the edge, press it into the side of the pan to make a lip around the edge.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden
Remove from the oven, and leave the oven door open to cool it down.
1 TBSP vanilla extract or paste (or however much you feel like)
Preheat an oven to 200F.
Combine room-temperature cream cheese, sugar, salt, lemon juice & zest, and vanilla in a stand mixing bowl (or large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer).
Using a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar together on medium speed until the cream cheese is completely smooth. Scrape down the sides, paddle attachment, and bottom of the bowl repeatedly to ensure the mixture is smooth.
Add 1 or 2 eggs at a time to the cream cheese mixture and mix on low speed until they’re incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, including the paddle attachment, between every addition of eggs to ensure the mixture stays smooth.
Add in the sour cream and mix on low until it is fully incorporated.
Now we have a vanilla cheesecake batter and can proceed to bake or add additional ingredients to flavor the batter. A few ideas could be frozen blueberries, chocolate chips, melted chocolate (for chocolate cheesecake), mashed bananas, swirls of your favorite jam or preserves, raspberries, etc. Get creative, and use your imagination.
Baking
Place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for 4 hours
At hour 4, remove the cheesecake from the oven, and using a food thermometer, insert it into the center of the cheesecake. If the thermometer reads 165-175F, it is done baking. If not, continue to bake until at least 165F is reached.
Allow the cheesecake to fully cool (2-3 hours) and refrigerate overnight, unwraped, in the pan.
Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake and flip it out onto a cake board that has parchment paper on top. After the cheesecake is out of the pan, you can flip it back over onto a fresh cake board and gently remove the parchment paper to keep the top in tact.
Decorate how you see fit with fresh fruit, sauces, ganache, whipped cream, meringue, etc.
I prefer warming up the cake pan before I flip out the cheesecake. Warming up the pan on the outside helps the cheesecake slide out. You can use a blow torch (easily found at Home Depot for around $20), or you can set the cake pan in a sink full of boiling hot water for a few minutes.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed my basic cheesecake recipe! Thanks for stopping by The Professional Student and don’t forget to leave me a comment.
French macarons made by Pastry Chef Shawn Smallwood
French macarons frustrated me as a pastry student 10 years ago when I first began attending Le Cordon Bleu in Dallas, Texas. There is a reason why good French macarons are so expensive. If you’ve never had one, please try one. You won’t regret it!
A love-hate relationship was quickly established, as I loved to eat macarons but hated making them. I forgot about them until I was forced to master them. It was a lot of trial and error, but as an entrepreneur with an entrepreneurial mindset, I persisted nonetheless.
I wanted to share my technique and recipe, and I hope you find both useful, as I have spent a lot of time perfecting these little beauties. If you have ever made a meringue or a meringue-based dessert, you’ll understand just how finicky meringue anything can be.
Please watch my French Macaron tutorial before attempting to make macarons if you are inexperienced and new to baking them.
French Macaron Tutorial
Baking times might vary slightly on what is in the recipe that I typed up vs. what is in my video, as every oven is different. I’ve baked my macarons using how my oven bakes. You might need to increase or possibly decrease your oven baking time, so there might be a little trial and error until you have your macarons mastered.
French macarons baked by Pastry Chef Shawn Smallwood
Most importantly, have fun! It’s okay to mess up batches. Trial and error is part of the process, but believe in yourself, and don’t give up. Get creative with the French Macarons, as decorating is limited to your imagination. Below are some of my favorite French macarons I’ve ever baked.
French macarons made by Pastry Chef Shawn Smallwood
Thanks for stopping by for another baking edition from The Professional Student. Please help support me and my blogging endeavors by subscribing, commenting, liking, sharing, or re-blogging. Thanks again, and have a great day!
Welcome back to The Professional Student! Today, I’m just sharing some of my own random thoughts that don’t really have anything to do with school or baking.
I use my social media platforms to share my every day life, to help others, to teach, and to spread the knowledge that I have acquired over the years. It’s a place of positivity for me. It’s a place to build community and to spread joy and love. I also use it to keep in contact with people I’ve met over the years across the world when I was in the Army.
I wish I could say that my social media accounts were perfect, but I am not perfect, and they reflect as such. A lot of people only portray the good sides of life on social media, which can kind of come off fake or not genuine. It’s hard to build connections with people when everything seems like it’s going perfectly. We all have problems and it helps establish commonalities that are relatable.
I’ve also used social media for business transactions and I’ve been able to monetize off of my Facebook for posting videos and reels. I’ve made specific pages and groups dedicated to my baking, where clients can go and reach out to me or see my work at any time.
More recently, I’ve been focused on my TikTok and growing that account. It’s currently my largest social media account at almost 2,500 followers behind my Instagram and a little over 2,000.
While I’ve been posting my content to TikTok, I’ve also been posting it to YouTube. YouTube has created a space for me to categorize my videos and make them easy for people to find rather than scroll through my TikTok to find a particular cooking video. I could also share my YouTube videos to my Facebook and here to my blog. It helps put all of the pieces together by demonstrating the processes that I am going through as not everybody learns the same. Some folks and visual learners, hands-on, listeners, or a combination of all.
I was very active on Instagram for a long time, but I kind of forgot about it as I maneuvered over to TikTok. I’ve started posting there again, but the most important thing that I’ve realized is not all content is good to cross post. I was posting my TikToks to Instagram since you can share videos and reels there. However, the main purpose of Instagram is photo sharing, so I’ve shifted back to that.
Ultimately, I try and break down everything that I know into an easy and understandable format. Then my followers can replicate a similar product at home or have a starting idea to make their own variations.
I also have a LinkedIn as well as a Threads. Whatever I post here is posted directly to my LinkedIn. It’s also a way to keep in touch with people and see what’s going on in their professional world. I also get to feature my unique professional skills, experiences, and abilities.
I don’t particularly go out of my way to make social media content. I share pieces of my everyday life that are useful or helpful. I kind of think of it like a product. Would you buy something that doesn’t help you? Would you buy something that doesn’t make your life easier? The answer is probably no.
I don’t expect people to watch content that is not useful, so I only make useful content. Some might consider it boring while others find it to be amazing and helpful. I have had many folks tell me how much they appreciate what I share and that they can watch my videos with their children, who enjoy learning how to cook. I get to help other people by sharing bits and pieces of my life and that is the best reward out of it all.
Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to give me a like, follow, or re-blog! 
Ricotta cheese is one of the rare items I purchase at the grocery store, but I do need it occasionally. Sometimes, for savory applications like ravioli or lasagna, other times for desserts!
I was asked to make an Italian-inspired dessert for a client on this particular day. We discussed various ideas and settled on a cannoli-inspired cake. Cannoli filling is made from ricotta, powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate chips. The cake would have four pistachio cake layers and three cannoli filling layers. The outside would be frosted with a buttercream comprised of half cream cheese and half Italian meringue, and finished off with a dark chocolate ganache top, marbled dark chocolate ganache sides, crushed pistachios on top, and a chocolate chip boarder around the bottom.
I noticed no ricotta at the grocery store but plenty of whole milk. I didn’t have time to look for one item, so I grabbed the milk and headed home to make it. The process is simple enough but a little time-consuming when it comes to removing the whey from the cheese. It is well worth it, as the texture and flavor are superior to any grocery store product.
Please enjoy learning to make ricotta cheese with me, as I demonstrate in the YouTube video below. You can also pick up a few gardening tips along the way!
Making Ricotta Cheese Demo
After making the cheese, I needed to bake off the pistachio cakes and turn the ricotta into cannoli filling. Please enjoy the YouTube video of that process. It also includes the recipe I used for the pistachio cake.
Pistachio Cake and Cannoli Filling Demo
Finally, my cake layers had cooled, and it was time to torte, fill, stack, and build the final cake. Depending on thickness, it always takes a few hours for cake layers to cool off, but I don’t mind. It gives me time to work on the homework side of my graduate program!
I’ve noticed some bakers prefer to bake their layers individually so they do not have to cut them. This is a big pet peeve of mine because I do not like thick cake layers. I’ve met people who do not like cake. I truly believe it is because they’ve never actually had a good one. Cake layers should be thin. If the layers are too big and the filling is too thin, the result can be a dry and unpleasant cake. One should not require a large glass of milk, even though it is good with dessert, to prevent a cake choking hazard.
Please enjoy the cannoli cake stacking, filling, and decorating process in the YouTube video below.
Filling and Staking Cake Demo
Thanks for stopping by The Professional Student, and don’t forget to like, re-blog, and comment!
Welcome back to The Professional Student! In continuing with the theme of examining Subway Sandwiches, graduate students at Western Carolina University were challenged to create a value chain analysis.
Please enjoy my presentation on YouTube, and as always, don’t forget to comment. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate and value everyone’s feedback and support!
Sourdough bread and breadmaking became very popular during the pandemic when folks were stuck at home. Personally, I love sourdough bread as it has more health benefits than bread leavened with instant yeast.
Yeast is a fungus that feeds off of the sugars in the flour. If you add in a large quantity of instant yeast, it will produce a lot of carbon dioxide quickly. This causes the bread to rise at a rapid rate. The downside is there is still a lot of sugar in the bread, and you lose the benefits of a slower fermentation process, which introduced prebiotics, probiotics, and less sugar. You also get that great sourdough taste!
Here are two interesting studies you may examine on your own.
What I can tell you is that I’ve had the same sourdough starter for two years, and it’s going strong! It can be intimidating to think about making a sourdough starter, so it is often purchased from others. Please enjoy my video tutorial on how to make sourdough starter!
Once you get an established starter, you can keep it in the refrigerator. The cold air slows down the yeast, extending its shelf life. All you need to do is take it out every week or two, discard half of it, and feed it! I’ve even forgotten about it for over a month and brought it back to life. There is no right or wrong way to sourdough, so do what you feel is best.
I’ll also include my basic sourdough bread recipe for your convenience. I hope you enjoyed the video and have found it helpful! Please let me know what you think in the comments, and thanks for visiting The Professional Student!
Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe
Yield: 1 loaf
10 ounces Starter
8 ounces Water
14 ounces Bread Flour
15 grams Kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil (Optional)
Feed the starter the day before baking to ensure it is active and bubbly.
Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer bowl. If softer bread is preferred, add the oil before mixing. Turn the mixer on low for 5 minutes using the dough hook attachment until the ingredients are combined, or knead the dough by hand.
Turn the mixer speed on high for 10 to 15 minutes until the dough comes together in a smooth ball and lifts off the sides of the bowl.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and allow it to rise until it doubles about 6 to 8 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth round ball. Place the ball into a well-floured bread-proofing basket and cover the top with a damp cloth or wrap it in plastic. An unused shower cap from a dollar store also works. Allow the dough to rise again for about 1.5 to 2 hours or almost double in size.
When the bread is close to being ready to bake, preheat a Dutch oven with the lid in an oven to 400F for 30 to 45 minutes.
Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of a sheet pan on top of the breadproofing basket. In one swift motion, flip the basket over and gently remove the basket by lifting it up. If the dough is sticking, give it a gentle shake or two. It can be frustrating, as sometimes the dough won’t come out, so make sure the bread basket is well-floured.
Score the top of the bread. I like to do a deep “S” shape down the center. There are lots of ways to score and design bread. Have fun with it!
Remove the preheated Dutch oven from the oven and pick up the dough by the corners of the parchment paper. Place the dough in the Dutch oven, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes until a beautiful golden brown color is achieved.
Once baked, remove the bread from the Dutch oven and transfer it to a cooling rack. Allow the bread to cool before slicing it with a bread knife or storing it in an airtight bag or container. The bread may be cut before it’s completely cool, but you risk smushing the interior. If the bread is warm when storing it in a plastic bag or airtight container, condensation will build up from the steam.
The bread is best served slightly heated or toasted. Leftovers also make great croutons or breakfast casseroles!
Variations
Add in various fresh or dried herbs, spices, or cheeses, and most of all, have fun with it!
Hello, and welcome back to the Professional Student! This week, I’ll be examining outdoor advertisements. Not to be confused with advertisements for the outdoors, outdoor advertisements are those that are outdoors, like a billboard.
I always like to start out by listing the criteria for the analysis, just in case you’re new here!
The deliverables are composed of 5 different sections listed in the following order (Lahm & Lockwood, 2022):
Describe the advertisement by product/service, company, brand, etc., and the focus. What was the appeal or technique that was used to evoke an emotional response? Include a link to the ad selected.
What were the objectives of the campaign? To sell more? To inform customers about a new product feature? Were the objectives attainable and measurable, or were they time-specific?
Describe the target market that was the focus of the advertisement.
What action does the advertisement want the audience to take? If action is taken, how will the audience member benefit from using the product?
Describe the value proposition of the product or service being offered in each advertisement. What are the specific reasons (product features and benefits) that would drive customers to purchase the product or service being sold in each advertisement?
1. The Marlboro Man Billboard
I wanted to start this off with something I remember seeing constantly as a child: cigarette advertisements on billboards (which are now banned as of 1999). A link to the advertisement is below. Marlboro is owned by Philip Morris USA.
For me, seeing the Marlboro Man is iconic, as he was an icon in his own right. The billboard features the Marlboro Man on a horse in a blue denim shirt, tan jeans, a cowboy hat, gloves, and a rope for rounding up animals. He has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and faces in a side view profile. It brings back memories of seeing these advertisements everywhere as a child. My first thought was that I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to smoke and ride a horse while rounding up animals, but hey, it’s the Marlboro Man. Aside from Chuck Norris, he can do anything! He is a rugged, manly man who smokes red, so if you’re a rugged, manly man, you should smoke them, too (value proposition)!
Obviously, the purpose of this advertisement is to sell Marlboro cigarettes. The billboard is from 1982 and was featured on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Before 1950, Marlboro cigarettes were advertised to women only, but that changed with the introduction of the Marlboro Man, who was always featured smoking Marlboro Reds. Marlboro Reds used to have a red filter to hide lipstick stains, but they failed to attract women. So, they slapped a brown filter on it, complete with a cowboy (the Marlboro Man), and marketed it to men.
A 1982 article in The New York Times by Eric Pace discusses the price of cigarettes jolting up from about 20 cents per pack to 82 cents per pack. I am not a smoker anymore, but I smoked for 10 years during my time in the Army. I can recall a time when a pack of cigarettes was almost $10, depending on where you were in the country, as some states have higher prices than others.
Another New York Times article by Phillip Wiggins in 1982 highlights that Philip Morris is the second-largest tobacco country after R.J. Reynolds Industries. Operating revenues in 1982 were 10.89 billion, with a profit of 676.2 million.
2. Sheets Energy Strips, “I TAKE A SHEET.”
My second advertisement isn’t exactly the greatest or something considered great advertising, but it made me laugh hysterically because of how ridiculous it is. What it is, though, is a great failure, and as such, it deserves to be revisited. I can’t believe a company’s marketing team thought this was a good idea! I must highlight this as a failure because this is exactly what you should not do!
PureBrand owns Sheets Energy Strips. These energy strips essentially dissolve on your tongue to give you energy. I can’t help but see the resemblance to dropping acid. Not that I’ve ever dropped acid (I haven’t), but I am not ignorant of the fact of what it is, either. We’ve all studied psychology, and the 70s were wild. The box of energy strips features a face with only a mouth and a tongue sticking out with a hand, placing an energy strip onto the tongue that looks exactly like dropping acid. I bet the kids loved this! I can’t find Sheets Energy Strips for sale, but there are plenty of other brands being marketed as dietary supplements. They’re insanely expensive on Amazon.com, ranging from $20-$30 for one box containing 30 strips. Honestly, just buy a case of energy drinks if you’ll pay $30 for that!
Let’s get to the juicy part: the advertisements! Below is a link so you can see them.
There are two featured on that webpage. The first is a woman in a bathing suit with a big smile on her face. She has a swimming cap on and goggles as if she is about to compete competitively, even though it’s a casual pool you would find at a hotel or apartment complex. Athletes use a lot of energy, so maybe that’s their target market for the ad. Here is where it goes wrong. In big, bold white words across the woman, it says, “I TAKE A SHEET IN THE POOL.” First of all, no, you don’t! This isn’t Caddy Shack. No one is throwing a Snickers bar into the pool. They were trying to be funny, but it comes off as crude. I find it hysterical. Not at the words but at the fact that this was publicly advertised on the side of a bus stop and billboards. Next to that, there is a professional woman. A student, a professor, a bookworm, perhaps? She is dressed in a black suit with glasses and looks conservative. She has a slight grin on her face while holding a stack of books. There is also a wedding ring on her hand. Like ad 1, it says in bold white letters, “I TAKE A SHEET AT THE LIBRARY.” It must have been all the Starbucks working its magic. Okay, back to the seriousness. I really can’t believe this was an ad campaign! This obviously targets students and professionals alike, who have very busy schedules and might need an extra energy boost.
According to CSP Daily News (2011), PureBrands spent $10 million on advertising and partnered up with athletes and celebrities alike, such as Pitbull and LeBron James. According to the SEC, PureBrands took a net loss of $21,094,983 in 2012 and $12,583,216 in 2013.
3. Surreal Cereal
Surreal Cereal is a plant-based based high protein, low carb, zero sugar cereal that is “Surreal because it shouldn’t work, but it does, brilliantly.” Surreal is owned by Jac Chetland and Kit Cammell, two British entrepreneurs reinventing the breakfast game by making a nutritionally balanced cereal that tastes great for adults. I can’t find this product for sale in the US, but on Amazon’s UK page, I found a variety pack of 4 for 24 British Pounds.
The specific advertisement I’ve decided to look at is called “No Work January” and can be seen in the link below.
There is an all-white background that reads: January. Protein. Whatever. Can’t be bothered this month? Neither can we. Whatever is written in rainbow words. Next to the words are cereal boxes, and on the bottom right hand, the word “SURREAL” is printed in bold black letters.
I think this advertisement is clever, as many people are trying to drop holiday weight as their New Year’s resolution. The message, can’t be bothered this month? You don’t have to be with our cereal. Just eat it. The target market segments are adults who want to eat healthy, eat good, and not think about it. People who live active lifestyles or those who are athletic are also a great market. Folks who are looking to improve their health is another market segment.
Regarding the financial information, the company is registered as a private limited company in London, England.
4. okcupid, DTF
Okcupid, an online dating site, is owned by Match Group, which also owns Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and other dating apps and sites.
The billboard advertisement I’ve chosen to analyze features two lovely ladies. Below is the link for the advertisement.
The first woman picked up her date and held her up in her arms sideways while her arms wrapped around her neck, holding a rose. The background is all baby pink and says “DTF” in big, bold yellow letters with a black shadow. Next to DTF it says “ALL HEAD OVER HEELS” bolded in black. The bottom of the billboard says okcupid, and below that, “DATING DESERVES BETTER” is printed in bold black letters.
I will not elaborate on the acronym DTF, but if you’ve watched The Jersey Shore, you know what comes to mind. However, okcupid took a play on DTF, and it doesn’t mean what you think it means here. DTF certainly grabs attention and gets a laugh, but in this ad campaign, DTF means down to thrift, down to furiously make out, down to flea market, etc. It is a way to connect to millennials and a modern audience.
I like the colors of the billboard. They’re bright. I like to see the LGBTQIA2S+ community being represented. Its modern, and it targets exactly who it was meant to target. Though millennials and modern people might have been the target, Gen Z can’t be discounted as they’re a much more accepting and open generation than previous generations.
Match Group has a net worth of $8.65 billion and a value of $11.63 billion (Stock Analysis, 2024). Love is a good business to be in! Match Group spent $519.6 million on advertising in 2023 and $447.9 million in 2022. In 2016, they spent $325 million but have steadily increased to spending an average of half a billion since 202 (Dixon, 2024).
5. Chipotle, “As Real As It Gets”
Am I the only one who thinks Chi-pot-le instead of Chipotle? It makes me laugh every time. I like Chipotle, but I don’t eat there often. It isn’t exactly something that comes to mind, and I find their food overly salty. Every bite I take slowly increases my blood pressure levels until my feet start to retain water and swell up. Chipotle is a publicly traded “Mexican Grill” quick service fast food restaurant owned by The Vanguard Group, which holds majority shares. Surprisingly, Chipotle is not franchised and is owned and operated by the corporation itself.
This advertisement is funny nonetheless and can be seen by clicking the link below.
The billboard features a burrito with some bites taken out of it, as the contents have spread out all over only what one can assume to be a table. You can see the foil wrapper slowly being peeled away, and next to the burrito, the words “REALEST WRAPPER IN THE GAME” appear in bold white letters against a grey “table” background. Below that, there is the Chipotle logo with the words “AS REAL AS IT GETS” in bold black letters.
This is obviously a play on words and a nod towards the music industry, specifically the rap music genre, where rap artists and musicians claim to be unchanged by their fame and money as they’re “the realist of the real” rapping about real life, real situations, or their own personal stories. The billboard made me smile, but it didn’t make me want to eat a burrito, which appears to be what is being sold. A real burrito, of course, not those fake burritos sold elsewhere.
According to Google Finance (2024), Chipotle is valued at $79.74 billion and had revenues of $2.52 billion in 2023. Chipotle spent a quarter of a million dollars on advertising in 2022 and $264.09 million in 2023.
Thanks for stopping by The Professional Student. Don’t forget to leave me a comment!
Lahm, R., Lockwood, F. (2022). ENT 610 Entrepreneurial Creation. Master of Entrepreneurship Degree Program: “Greatest Marketing Campaigns” Analysis.https://www.canvas.com
Welcome back to The Professional Student. Graduate students at Western Carolina University studying innovative leadership and entrepreneurship were challenged to conduct a 5 Forces Analysis. Please enjoy the video below of the 5 Forces Analysis on Subway Sandwiches.
Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to leave me a comment!
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Professional Student! Today, I’ll share a YouTube video of an interview I just conducted with Beth Kellerhals. Beth is an entrepreneur and has years of valuable experience and expertise to offer. She was kind enough to share some of her story and offer many great words of wisdom!
This assignment was supposed to be for a PR/Marketing expert, but I covered much of that in my post regarding professional marketing services. I decided to go in a different direction, but I also discussed PR/marketing topics and how an entrepreneur can navigate marketing, as it can be costly, depending on specific goals and needs.
Please enjoy the interview, and don’t forget to leave me a comment. Thanks for visiting The Professional Student!
Innovative Leadership and Entrepreneurship: A Graduate Student's Perspective 
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