H O T T A L E N T
The Newsletter of Aquent's Available Talent
N O V E M B E R | 1 5 | 2 0 0 6
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Hot Talent
Featured Talent This Week
That Bit at the End - "Make a Run for the Borders"
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HOT TALENT
We've got site!
Well, we've got redesigned site, our own aquent.com.
Easier to navigate, more content about our services, and two (count 'em, TWO!) shades of Aquent Orange. What's not to love?
Yes, you can still use your MyAquent account to sign timecards electronically, download copies of invoices and timecards, renew and extend purchase orders, and order steaming hot lattes right from your very own desk.
Okay, that last only works 35% of the time. (Or less.)
You can also view thousands on-line profiles of great Aquent Talent like the ones featured right here in our weekly newsletter.
And don't forget to call us for all your creative and marketing Holiday vacation needs!
Enjoy!
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FEATURED TALENT THIS WEEK
William V. - Senior Art Director
Craig M. - Web Project Manager
Sally T. - Proofreader | Editor
Paula D. - Traffic Manager
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William V.
Senior Art Director
In the course of working on large multi-million dollar brands like Honda Motorcycles, Safeway, Conoco Phillips, El Pollo Loco, Albertsons, and Savon, William has developed a considerable breadth of knowledge in a diverse range of industries.
A hands-on Art Director with 11 years of experience, he shines in all the Adobe CS applications as well as Quark and has a firm grasp of print pre-press and pre-and post-production for broadcast. Most recently managing teams of up to 7 at Duncan & Associates, his concept development and positioning skills have led to multiple award-winning projects for TV, print, outdoor, POP, direct, in-store signage, branding, and collateral.
But enough bragging, let his awesome on-line profile speaks for itself!
Desired Work: Freelance & Permanent
Skills: QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Streamline, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe ImageReady, Adobe InDesign
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Craig M.
Web Project Manager
Most recently at NBC/Universal working as a Front-End Developer, Craig is Project Manager with skills in information architecture and GUI design as well as hands-on skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Experienced in multiple full project lifecycles from business development to final delivery, he's led teams of 8+ on projects for Toyota Motor Sales - USA, PC/Mac Mall, and LA Shanti. Craig's background includes working in J2EE/portal & content-management environments, thriving in multi-tiered/ multilevel stakeholder settings, and reporting directly to senior management.
He's also trilingual, speaking and writing in English, Spanish, and French.
We say he's great in any language!
See his on-line Aquent profile!
Desired Work: Freelance & Permanent
Skills: JavaScript, DHTML, ASP, Java, Microsoft Project, Visual Basic, Microsoft Windows NT, HTML, Visio, PRO*C, Visual J++, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe ImageReady, VBScript, Microsoft Visual InterDev, XML, WebObjects, Java Server Pages, Debuggers, Java Applets, JavaBeans, Visual Studio
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Sally T.
Proofreader | Editor
With an extensive background in the marketing field, Sally just nabbed the highest proofreading scores we've ever seen on our demanding (and error-ridden) proofreading assessment.
Not only does she possess some mighty fine proofreading/editing skills, she also happens to be incredibly well organized and efficient and skilled in Chicago/AP Style. Sally has an engaging personality, works seamlessly with teams, and has an uncanny knack for taking complex issues and breaking them down for any audience to easily understand. All of which she's done for companies such as Payless ShoeSource, Morris Communications, and the Kansas Air National Guard.
She says her true passion is to proofread, edit, and find mistakes in printed materials.
And to that we say, "Amen, sister!"
See her on-line Aquent profile.
Desired Work: Freelance & Permanent
Skills: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Windows, Adobe PageMaker, Copy Writing, Management, Flatbed Scanning, Public Relations, Advertising/Account Management, Typing, PR/Account Management, Event Management, Event Co-ordination, Business Development, Administration, Office Management, Customer Service
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Paula D.
Traffic Manager
An experienced print and broadcast Traffic Manager with over 7 years of experience in the advertising world, Paula is a strategic, hands-on pro who does what it takes to get the job done on time and under budget.
At Saatchi & Saatchi she directed the workflow through the agency for Toyota national print ads, brochures, and broadcast from job initiation to final production. Smart and incredibly well organized, she continually seeks to improve processes and raise the bar for sky-high standards.
Skilled at creating solid working relationships with cross-functional teams, she's renowned for her can-do demeanor and for achieving the impossible!
See her on-line Aquent profile.
Desired Work: Freelance
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THAT BIT AT THE END
"Make a Run for the Borders"
Slovanistan, Former USSR (Associated Press) - From the small village of Slovanistan, located in a far corner of the former Soviet Union, PR executive Richard Price is passing out squeezee balls to village children and leading them around like a latter-day Pied Piper.
"It just makes me feel good at a deep level," said Price.
Price is part of a group of marketing executives who formed Marketers Without Borders four years ago to provide marketing materials and know-how to those populations who might otherwise have none.
"A group of us were out having drinks and discussing what other organizations were doing to help out the less fortunate, and we wondered how we could do the same."
"We were all skilled professionals, but we didn't know exactly how we could apply our skills to help the not-quite-so-prosperous. None of us know how to use a hammer so obviously Habitat for Humanity was out of the question," Price said, breaking out into laughter.
Using the organization Doctors Without Borders as a model (a group of medical specialists who perform free operations around the world), Price and five other ad industry execs formed Marketers Without Borders. Currently based out of a Frank Gehry-designed bunker in Santa Monica, California, the group now includes marketing executives from over 20 nations. Each year they send an elite team to visit six "marketing needy" villages to show them how to improve their way of life.
Walking down the mud streets of Slovanistan, Price hands out tiny house-shaped USB memory sticks, antenna balls, branded baseball caps, playing cards, visors, and thousands upon thousands of pens emblazoned with company logos to throngs of outstretched hands.
"Our clients really came out of the woodwork to give us their surplus swag," Price said, using the industry term for giveaways.
When asked what anyone from the village would do with the items, Price responded, "You may not know this, but the squeezee ball was invented as a stress reliever. And I'm sure once this hamlet enters the global economy they're going to need a heck of a lot of them."
Elsewhere in the village, Eugene Eggars, a Media Planner from YellowDuck ad agency, tried to give a PowerPoint presentation on market share and competitive advantage.
"It's been very difficult," said an out of breath and grimy Eggars. "I couldn't find a plug for my projector, so I've had to draw everything in the dirt."
Eggars laid out intricate slides and graphs on the ground around the village's main square to a crowd of curious onlookers.
He mused, "It's not really the same without the whooshing sounds and the theme from the movie Rocky playing behind me, but I think the village elders are getting the idea."
Almost as if to prove his point, two elders could be overheard telling a kulak, or peasant, they didn't have the "bandwidth" to hear his complaints and would have to schedule a lunch with "his girl".
"I feel like we're really getting somewhere," said a beaming Eggars.
Jim "Jym" Bartok, of NY's fashionable boutique agency GrAF2T, hosted another afternoon seminar to the a group of farmers. "You can say your village's yak milk is better than another village's yak milk, but without a marketing campaign, who the heck is going to believe you?" expounded an impassioned Bartok. He also implored the farmers to start thinking hard about brand consistency.
In places as remote as Pakalyn, Malaysia, Marketers Without Borders is teaching people the plusses of strategic planning and benefits of handing someone a ruler with your village's name printed on it.
But Price admits that they still have a long way to go.
While reaching into his bag for more Enron-branded whistles and lanyards he lamented, "It's going to be a long time until a lot of these townsfolk understand what we mean when we say something is 'This year's black.'"
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Tim Donnelly
Propagandist | Blogger | Stuff Coordinator
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