likemind was in the news

Just reminded of this article that the NYTimes wrote last year. And you might recognize the name in the first line...

For the sake of getting people interested in coming to the next one, likemind made the news in October of 2008: That Business Card Won't Fly Here covers what this once monthly, social (networking) group is all about:

Participants exchange ideas, job tips and useful contacts, while also batting around ideas about technology, art, business and culture.

It's a great way to get a Friday started. Check out the website to find one happening near you.

a comfortable calm

Just a week in the Oval office, and Obama's feeling at home - a changing one, that is.



I love the example he sets. If someone asked me right now, who's a person in history with whom you want to have a conversation? I would say Barack Obama. Damn.

to social media or not

I know there’s a debate about whether or not brands need a social media strategist; or what social media can really do for your brand... And in the case that any of you are involved in one such debate and want more information regarding the micro-blogging platform, check this article out: 40 of the best Twitter brands and people.

Brands mentioned: The HomeDepot, Best Buy, Wachovia, Portland TrailBlazers, Burger King, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc.

Some top reasons they Tweet are:

• build awareness
• create a community
• enhance/diversify customer-service
• be interesting

Enjoy!
http://twitter.com/erinmiddleton

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Gareth! :)

my bio

I have to write one for work, so I thought I'd take try a test one here. Let's see, when did it all start...

I discovered advertising as I was re-writing papers at the University of Oregon in hopes of becoming a magazine journalist and working for Rolling Stone. During the introductory course, I continuoully heard the words "insights" and "ideas" and thought, this sounds like fun! So I enrolled in an advertising strategy course the next term and found my passion: planning. From there on out, I got straight As (except for one B in management, :P) - a collegiate feat achieved solely in my advertising major; I thought wow, I get it AND I'm good at it: score!

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, I went to Alicante, Spain to immerse myself in Spanish culture and learn another language. Hacia un ano muy buenisimo y tenia gracias por todo. It was in Madrid, that I met an account planner who told me about Miami Ad School's Account Planning Bootcamp: "It's a good place to hone your skills," he said. I never forgot the suggestion...almost three years later - after working for Vitamin World, J.Crew, The National Psoriasis Foundation, Clear Channel Radio, and Starbucks in Portland, Oregon - I applied. And got in.

It was at Bootcamp that I encountered my mentor and my future job connection to The Richards Group - Christopher Owens. I wanted to be an electric planning firecracker just like him, but I thought "Dallas? Really?" It took a stint as a Freelance strategist in Portland working on a brand strategy for the Bridgeport Brewing Company and a hot summer in New York blogging for PSFK to finally settle me in the LoneStar State. And here I am, a happy planner.

When I'm not briefing for the next pre-order incentive at GameStop, researching trends to house in the Trend Lab, or helping out with a new business pitch, I'm riding my bike as one of the only cyclist commuters you'll see in Dallas or drinking a Shiner at a local music show. Sure I miss my green, tree-filled Pacific Northwest; but heck, Oregon ain't got nothin on ya'll's BBQ.

this makes me happy

because "Life's for sharing"



The fact that they used dance to reach people, in addition to the popularity of Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, (and isn't there another one premiering soon?) - I'm wondering what's with the trend of dancing? I know it's been around forever (Fred & Ginger), but is there something bigger going on?

Best strategic work of 09?

Last year about this time, I put together a short reel for our creative department here that included some of the best strategic work of 07. I mostly compiled them from blogs I'd read and maybe an AdAge Top 10 list, but I wanted to ask those of you who read this blog what you considered to be some of the best (planning) work of 08.

Looking forward to your input.
Thanks!

a digital mindset

Just saw this from Mark Earls on Twitter:

absolutely convinced that there's a digital mindset; one of sharing and altruism.. staggered by how few people have it

The capabilities of the web enable us to share a lot more; and one the one hand, it puts us all on the same page, while on the other: it helps us to see who's not. Or maybe it comes back to the simple awesomeness of the phrase two heads are better than one and the individuals in the group collective know that the possibilities are endless. Or we could look at Mark's more scientific reasoning behind social media:

it connects people to each other and that allows us to see each other (which you will hopefully remember allows us to emulate and thus drives the spread of behaviours and ideas)

what do you think? And how will we see this "digital mindset" evolve in 2009?

at likemind this AM, we discussed the topic of transparency and social media/networking with these conclusions: there needs to be a parallel category of "virtual life management" tools that become available, helping people translate their offline behaviors into an online on-all-the-time identity. I don't know if Mark's point of being "good" is inherent moreso than it's a by-product of transparency.

Hmmm...

changing the rules

It just occurred to me that the trend of transparency is upon us all on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Yelp, and LinkedIn (somewhat), among others. Two weeks ago I separated my "personal" from my "professional" on Facebook, thinking this separation would allow me to use the service a bit better. Plannersphere always wanted to be like a Facebook/LinkedIn child...and so I thought that I could make a Facebook account act like the Plannersphere only with the updates like Twitter - I'm thinking all-in-one baby!

But now that I think about the trend of transparency hitting the social sphere, maybe I shouldn't have done this. Maybe my professional network wants to see my personal life...wait, no, that doesn't sound right. Right? So how are we supposed to function on Facebook when my Director at work can see that I'm "recovering from a hard night out" or that my relationship status went from "in a relationship" to "single?"

This all seems to be about protecting the sancitity of our workplace, but maybe Gen Y is redefining the rules. Everything feels like it's in a state of flux: we're all figuring out how to co-exist with so much information available all the time and we're hitting bumps in the road, trying new things, working it out - but it's thrown us into a completely new area of communication. When I was at MAS, Catrina McAuliffe said that our generation was going to be the one that redefines how we use communication. Wow. She should get a noble prize for forecasting the future....

Here's to hoping that we know what we're doing; and that there's a little bit of strategy and planning along the way to guide us in solving the problems.

Get out the vote!

Just popped on Twitter and saw a tweet from Mark Earls that plugged this post from Neil at Only Dead Fish. I don't know how long he's been doing this, but just seeing it motivates me to read more blogs. Thanks for the inspiration!

And if you're a planner (and read blogs), go vote!

planning - the new year

Just read Ed Cotton's post about old vs. new school planning at Influx. He makes a great point about the discipline evolving, learn from the past, but be forward-looking.

The advertising environment has changed so dramatically, that unless Planners have an understanding of both content and context, they will be hopelessly lost.

As always, the idea for content, or the creative proposition can come from anywhere, even sales reports, but we now have access to a lot more material these days, beyond the focus group, to find these ideas.

The challenge for planners is to come up with platforms for ideas that have power in today's communication environment, they have to understand the context in which communication now works, without that, all the discipline in the world counts for nothing.

I hope to see more teamwork between planners of all disciplines: media/connections/brand in 2009.

Merry Holidays

I'm sure most of you are of the generation that saw MTV at its best and then...at its most confusing brand state; so you've found other music channels to follow: pitchfork, lastfm (my latest fav), maybe Fuse. I found the following "artists wish you a merry christmas" video on Fuse today, it's nothing super special, but it reminds me that artists are brands too. Why don't ad agencies or huge holding companies produce something similar for their clients? I think it might be neat and wholesome (?) to see a video of advertisers (brands) wishing consumers Merry Christmas. Just an idea. Enjoy.