Tammy Yang Portfolio

Contents
Resume 4

Letters of Recommendation 6

Creative Communications Samples 8

Writing Sample 10 ~ 13

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Resume

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 T A M M Y Y A N G
Email: TAEYANG2@UIUC.EDU
Web: WWW.TAMMYANG.COM

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Advertising 2009

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
• Overall GPA 3.2/4.0 Major GPA 3.84/4.0

RELEVANT COURSES

Class Campaigns Behavior Management History of Communication

Public Relations Creative Strategies Social Context of Media
Statistics Popular Culture Introduction to Advertising

SKILLS

Computer: Microsoft Office

Research: Lexis Nexis; SPSS.
Video & Web: Designed my own website: www.christyiilini.com

EXPERIENCE

Marketing Intern Summer 2007

MediaWill Communication Seoul, Korea
• 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 Summer 2007

BBDO Korea Seoul, 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

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 an-

nounced 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 over-

heated 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 ana-

lyst, 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 note-

book users faced an unexpected dilemma like having a computer plugged in to the wall all the time and taking ex-

tra 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 batter-

ies.

An Apple spokeswoman, Lynn Fox, said “We are currently investigating

whether batteries that have been supplied to Apple for our current and previ-
ous notebook lines meet our high standards for battery safety and perform-
ance.” 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 ab-

surd 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 criti-

cized 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 dissi-

pate 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 manu-

factured 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 on-

going 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 indus-

try 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 reac-

tion 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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