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Archive for October, 2009
Fall in Love with Fear and Other Mantras
I am speaking at She Says tonight a non-profit organization dedicated to giving women in marketing/media/digital fields an outlet for the exchange of ideas and a place where their voices can be heard.
I’m really excited about the opportunity.
I just came from Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference in Los Angeles where I met so many interesting, motivated and frankly just kick ass women in all walks of life from business, to media to politics.
So I am especially keyed up to share and learn from women in my field.
The theme of the She Says event is “Being in love with fear” and the focus is on innovation.
I was asked to share a few of my “secrets” on innovation.
Here a few of the mantras I live by:
Chase Butterflies
This is my version of She Says “Fall in Love with Fear” theme and something I embrace 100 percent.
In my life I have repeatedly sought that feeling of “teetering on the edge” whether by moving to a country where I knew no one and didn’t speak the language or literally scaling new and scary heights by forcing myself onto the trapeze platform or the zip line.
Or even starting a blog when I knew nothing about social media.
As soon as I am getting too comfortable personally or professionally an inner voice seems to compel me to take on something new.
Sometimes I resent and resist this voice for disturbing my comfort, but I always follow it. I think I’m just wired this way.
I’m actually much more afraid of never achieving my full potential or never realizing my dreams…than I am of trying new and difficult things.
I wrote more on this topic in a post this summer on Feeling Butterflies.
Not Your Daughter’s Jeans
I had a recent request from a reader to write a piece on these.
(I love requests BTW).
Have you seen this brand?
They are actually called Not Your Daughter’s Jeans.
The ads are up all over Manhattan.
They are presumably aimed at middle aged moms with teenage daughters.
They offer style (sort of) with a special tummy tuck panel.
In the spirit of full disclosure I actually own a pair… well two pairs.
I bought them in a non Jenny Craig moment when no other jeans seemed to fit.
And they do live up to their promise.
They are super comfortable and (passably) stylish.
But I’m guessing the reader who posed this question didn’t want a peek into my closet.
They’re interested in discussing this branding approach of “not”.
The first thing that comes to my mind is the “not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign of a few year’s back.
But obviously there are a few differences.
5 Tips for Building a Better (Visual) Resume
Portfolios have long been a critical job search component of people in Creative positions.
But I think they are an effective tool for anyone looking to sell themselves.
Pictures do paint a thousand words.
And many people in today’s visually oriented society simply respond better to images.
My advice is to create a visual resume.
There are two ways to do this.
One is an online service. I haven’t actually used this but it looks interesting.
The other, which I use, is to create a portfolio that acts as an accompanying piece to your traditional resume.
It simply brings your traditional resume to life in images.
Here’s 5 Tips on how to create this kind of impactful visual resume:
#1 Start by bringing your personal brand to life:
The first page of my visual resume talks about my background. So it’s a montage of images of people, places, and events that are important to me and help define who I am as a brand.
It’s got pictures of the town I grew up in, an emblem from my University, logos of a few of the brands that I am passionate about, and even a snap shot of my family.
It even has a picture of a pet rock.
This last image is a great conversation starter and allows me to tell a story about how I first got inspired to go into marketing at a very young age (more on that in another post).
The montage is colorful, upbeat, fun- all personality traits I want to make sure come through.
#2 Put your work experience into pictures as well as words:
The next section of my visual resume brings to life my work experience.
For example, when I talk about the accounts I worked on in advertising, I show the logos and even some of the ads.
Nook vs. Kindle: What’s in a Name?
First there was the Kindle e-book from Amazon.
Last week Barnes and Noble launched their own version, the Nook.
It’s billed as “The World’s Most Advanced eBook”.
A quick look through the Nook’s website does show some nifty features.
The demo video is well done and worth watching.
There’s a color coded control panel with screen slide browsing (like the iphone), the ability to change text size while you are reading, customizable screen savers, and you can lend ebooks to friends (presumably who also have Nooks).
It looks like an interesting product.
Definitely a few feature improvements on the Kindle.
By the way it’s not yet for sale but you can “pre-book your Nook”.
The product looks cool, but what really interests me is the Brand.
What are the relative strengths of these brand names? Nook vs. Kindle?
I must admit when I first heard the Kindle name I was immediately intrigued.
It seemed to be related to reading but in a way that was no flat footed or literal.
It made me think a bit.
“Kindle like kindling in a fire by which you curl up and read?”
“Kindle like the intellectual and creative sparks that are kindled by books?”
To Amazon’s credit, they don’t force either of these interpretations on you.
I also liked the two syllables, the softness of it.
Nook on the other hand…
More Bad Brand Neighbors?
Earlier this week I blogged about Bad Brand Neighbors.
Thank you to one of my readers (Anne) who sent in this great example.
Her local bakery in Williamsburg offers both bread and comic booklets.
Feels like a slightly strange combination.
That’s my point of view. What’s your twist?
Is this a good brand pairing?
Research Polling Finally Enters the World Of 2.0
Read this post and check out my BrandTwist Urtak poll on the sidebar.
There’s a fundamental flaw with the majority of research polls.
By their very design, they make assumptions on what questions are relevant and/or predictive.
In other words, the poll results are only as good as the questions that have been asked.
But what if the assumptions on what’s important are wrong? Then the data is not so useful.
For example, I could do a survey on airline travel satisfaction and ask lots of questions about seat comfort.
However, maybe I didn’t think to ask about food quality, which might be the key driver for a lot of respondents.
In this case, the relevance of the data is limited by the assumptions and bias of the researcher (me).
My friends at Urtak have set out to change this.
Keep reading »
