Greg Kuchmek, who is represented by Aquent's DC office, has been working on the web since 1994. That's when he was hired to help produce a webzine, Stim, started by Prodigy. [Editor's Note: For an interesting flashback to 1996, read Ty Burr's review of Stim, which he gives a B+, and Slate, which he gives a C+]. When that gig ended in 1997 he discovered that, "3 years web experience was amazing. I was 'senior' automatically."
Flash forward to the present and Greg now has 14 years web experience. If you want to hire someone like Greg (assuming you can find someone like him), what do you have to offer him? He has a broad range of in-demand skills: in addition to ground-up experience with the full suite of web technologies, Greg is also an able photographer, animator, illustrator, and writer. When he goes on a job interview, the pressure is on the interviewer.
What is Greg looking for and how can you convince him to work for you? Listen to his words:
1. Trust
I'm looking for an employer that respects that I have my skills and trusts me to use them. They hire me because I can do something and they can't. It's great when they let me do it.
It's not always like that. I've done jobs where the client was really looking over my shoulder and micro-managing. I understand that everyone's got their personal style, but when that's happening, I don't feel free to be creative and really do what I'm capable of.
2. Flexibility
I don't wear a tie to interviews anymore. I don't need to dress up at this point. I've also got a full studio at home, so I'm even kind of shocked that I have to leave the house! I guess I've been spoiled by working in places like Boston or New York where it's more flexible.
More than flexibility about where work happens, though, I appreciate it when there is flexibility around how things get done. There have been countless little jobs where they needed a photograph and I've told them, "Look, I can spend the day combing through stock or I can go take one." It's great when people are more open to the "I can do this right now" approach, than they are attached to the "this is the way we have to do it" approach.
I saw this video on DeanHunt.com. Well, actually, Dean posted a slightly earlier version of it. The one below dates from June 2007:
The main point seems to be that the world is bigger, more connected, and changing faster than we realize. It's interesting in part because it illustrates at least one of the points it is trying to make: originally created for a presentation to 150 people, the various versions have collectively been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube.
There are a lot of thought-provoking tidbits in here and I encourage you to find them for yourself. To save you a fraction of time, I'll share these two with you:
- By 2013, supercomputers will exceed the computational capacity of the human brain;
- By 2049, a $1000 computer's capacity will exceed that of the human race.
As the authors point out, it is very difficult to predict what will happen between the first date and the second. One reason for this unpredictability is something Vernor Vinge dubbed, "The Singularity," way back in 1993. As he wrote then, "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended."
In other words, once an intelligence greater than our own appears on Earth, the possible futures ensuing become as unknowable as the events occurring beyond the event horizon of a black hole.
Action Item: During your next job interview, ask the interviewer what plans the company has for The Singularity and the need to serve super-intelligent customers.
I had a little problem with my iTunes account so I sent a message to their support center. The first response I got concluded with:
"Good luck on downloading the song Matthew! Again, please let me know if I can do anything else for you in the near future. I am so happy I was able to help you today with your item. Have a fantastic day and take care! Cheers! Brittany"
I replied: "Thanks! Much appreciated. Now having a fantastic day, Matt"
To which she (Brittany) responded: "Thank you for your kind words and you are so welcome! Nothing makes me happier than to hear that I have pleased our iTunes family members."
I practically blushed when I read that.
Blowing the Job Search
Having some PR responsibilities here, I often respond to ProfNet queries, particularly when they apply to careers and job hunting. Because my responses are thoughtful, but do not always see the light of day on the other side of the querying reporter's in-box, I thought I would quickly share the helpful hints I provided a writer putting together a piece on how people damage their job search:
1) Not doing enough or any research on the target company or the hiring manager. What do they do? What are their goals? Who are their competitors? etc. You better know!
2) Not leveraging your network to get an introduction, a recommendation, or anything else to differentiate you from the pool of applicants. Related problem: Not having or cultivating a network in the first place.
3) Swearing or almost swearing (ex. "friggin'") in the interview.
4) Forgetting you are being interviewed. In other words, acting more casually if the interviewer takes you to lunch, etc. Remember: Until you get that offer letter, you are being watched!
Back in 1992, our CEO wrote a letter to all Aquent employees outlining the four principles that guide us in the work we do. The first principle, and the one that has consistently spoken to me, is, "People make the difference."
OK. We're not the only company that espouses this value. In fact, we're not the only company for which it is true -- this slogan can be applied to many organizations, especially those which provide specialized services, such as doctors, lawyers, architects, tattoo artists, and so on.
But I'm on board with it as one of our guiding principles for several reasons. First of all, it's true in a literal way for us. We don't have a secret formula or patented product that makes us different or better. Aquent IS the people who work here and the people we represent.
Second of all, this is how our clients tend to see things. As I mentioned in my post on customer loyalty, the two things that matter most to clients of staffing companies, particularly niche-players like us, are (1) the people or talent represented by the firm, and (2) the relationship with that firm's representatives. (The latter also confirms the findings of Michael Lowenstein and others.) In other words, it's good to have a principle that actually reflects the interests of our clients.
You might not expect a graphic designer working as part of a program support center housed within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to say, "The majority of work I do gives me creative freedom," but that's exactly what Chris Spangler, who is represented by Aquent's Baltimore office, told me when I spoke with him last week.
I gave Chris a call because a poster he had designed on assignment won first prize in the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA) Communications Contest. (To see his winning entry, you can click here.) As it turns out, designing posters, which he has done for everything from promoting IT security within the agency to celebrating Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, is just part of his job at HHS (or, more accurately, SAMHSA/PSC). He has also designed and illustrated annual reports, brochures, and info-packs, he's designed logos and updated brand identities for various governmental programs, and he's even had the chance to serve as photographer at meetings with ambassadors and other functions.
"Working for the government is great job security," Chris says, but what really appeals to him is "... feeling like your making a difference by helping people with the stuff you're creating. I've designed a book on preventing bullying, I worked for a year and half on materials related to 9/11, and I put together a publication on responding to bio-terrorism attacks. You've got to look for different ways to find satisfaction in your work and these types of projects help do that for me."
June Dershewitz has been a web analyst for almost as long as that has been something to be. Currently a member of the leadership team at Semphonic, a top web analytics consultancy, June is a passionate advocate for the field of web analytics as well as a thoughtful and informed adviser on how best to pursue a career in it. An involved member of the web analytics community, June was an early instigator of "Web Analytics Wednesday" and is currently running for a seat on the Board of Directors of the Web Analytics Association.
For this podcast, I spoke with June - the first interviewee to ask me, "You do know that I grew up on a goat farm, right?" - about careers in web analytics, the changes she's seen in the field, and avoiding the "report monkey trap." I invite you to listen in on our conversation. You can do so by clicking on the Flash device below. You are also welcome to download an mp3 of this interview by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on this link. Finally, this and other Talent Blog Podcasts are always available on iTunes.
A few highlights of the interview can be found at the following time coordinates:
02:36 - "Web Analytics" is really about "people"
06:28 - "The technology has changed quite a bit - THANK GOD!"
08:43 - Omniture, Visual Sciences HBX, WebTrends, and the limits of Google Analytics
10:47 - Analysis starts with thinking about your goals
12:25 - Things to consider when hiring a web analyst
13:21 - Avoiding the "report monkey trap"
14:59 - Going from "what people are doing" to "why they are doing it"
17:00 - The value of using staffing firms to get project-based contract work
20:12 - Advice for people just starting out in web analytics
21:13 - The origin of "Web Analytics Wednesday"
23:06 - A WAA campaign pitch: Vote for June!
24:53 - "It's important that every company has someone on staff who owns web analytics"
26:03 - Happily employed (and unemployed) as a contractor
I always get in trouble when I start a post this way, but I'm a slow learner...
The other day I was talking to a friend who happens to be in marketing. When I first knew him some seventeen years ago, we were in a band together and he was one of the two guys who had a real job (I was not the other one). Back then he was doing market research, I believe, for a computer manufacturer and has spent most of his subsequent career in the tech sector working for some well-known brands as well as some fairly niche ones.
The only reason I bring this up is that he just started a new job. I wasn't too surprised because he always seems to be starting a new job and I said as much. "I don't look for them," he exclaimed, "they find me!" Then he laughed and said, "Well, I have had 7 jobs since 1999."
Talking to my wife about this later, she said, "That's going to look bad on his resume." I told her I didn't think so for a couple reasons. First of all, he keeps getting hired, so his employers apparently don't care. Second of all, I don't think they should care. Why? Because of something else he said: "I think of jobs as projects."
When you are looking for a job, the focus should be on what you accomplished and what resulted. Seeing your accomplishments as projects is a great way to communicate exactly that. Whether you worked somewhere for one year or ten doesn't matter. Almost any job, especially in the worlds of design and marketing, can be described as a single project or a series of projects. The cool thing is that doing so allows you to package your experience in discrete, easily digestible chunks of real-world value and revenue-generating impact.
Now, dish up a heaping platter of these tasty morsels and tell your next employer it's suppertime! Bon appetit!
Ever since I spoke to Erik Hauser last year I've been looking for an opportunity to speak with him again. He's optimistic, he's infectiously enthusiastic, and he has a lot to say on a lot of different topics almost any hour of the day or night (as anyone who follows the Experiential Marketing Forum knows).
Long story short, I asked him if I could interview him for this here podcast, and he amicably agreed. Rather than asking him to define "experiential marketing" for the umpteenth time, I thought instead it would be more illuminating to talk about emotionally connecting with brands, using experiential marketing techniques when searching for a job, and, of course, Gene Simmons. So that's what we did.
I invite you to listen in on our conversation. You can do so by clicking on the Flash device below. You are also welcome to download an mp3 of this interview by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on this link. Finally, this and other Talent Blog Podcasts are always available on iTunes. Heck, you can even subscribe to our podcast there!
A few highlights of the interview can be found at the following time coordinates:
00:59 - Gene Simmons: The Genius
05:19 - You need a 3rd Party to serve as "Keeper of the Brand"
10:04 - You want to raise demand? Decrease the supply! (From Hydrox to Polaroid)
12:01 - The "outside perspective"
14:45 - The EMF: How moderating discussions increases their value
16:08 - Keys to nurturing a vital online community
20:05 - "Experiential" is a methodology, not a tactic
In Part 1 of our podcast interview with James Intriligator, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Wales in Bangor, we talked about branding, loyalty, and consumer psychology.
In Part 2, we discuss personae and customer motivation, different neuormarketing approaches, and how understanding the brain can help us make more effective commercials (among other things, of course).
Listen in on our conversation by clicking on the Flash device below. You are also welcome to download an mp3 of this interview by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on this link. You can also check out this and other Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes. Heck, you can even subscribe to our podcast there!
A few highlights of the interview can be found at the following time coordinates:
01:50 - How to Get the Most out of Focus Groups
03:52 - Aunt Sally and the Straw Man
05:03 - Customer Motivation: Dreams and Aspirations (not just Fears, Uncertainties, and Doubts)
09:59 - Marketing and Branding from a Strategic, Artistic Perspective
11:55 - "There are a lot of good things you can do with marketing"
13:39 - Defining "Neuromarketing"
15:16 - Pros and Cons of Different Neuromarketing Approaches
17:15 - "If someone wants to pursue marketing from a neuromarketing perspective..."
20:44 - The Classic Mistake that Most Ads Make
21:58 - Another Classic Mistake
24:16 - Segment the Emotional and Attentional Aspects of Your Campaigns
She said it, at least in part, ironically. "Marketing? A science? Come on! What's next? Fishing?"
Marketing may not yet be a hard, or even soft, science. Nevertheless, scientists are indeed taking a hard look at marketing and beginning to paint a very interesting picture of how and why marketing actually works IN THE BRAIN.
James Intriligator is one such scientist. Having received his doctorate in psychology from Harvard for work on "attention," James did a stint as a consultant to the automotive industry, among others, before assuming a post in the Center for Neuroscience and Consumer Psychology at the University of Wales, Bangor.
I've known James for many years and decided to call him up when I wanted to get a handle this "neuromarketing" thing. He was kind enough to walk me through this emerging field as well as his own findings regarding brand loyalty (Hint: It kind of makes you act like a crazy person!), segmentation, and literally getting inside the customer's brain.
I invite you to listen in on our conversation. I think you'll find the discussion illuminating and, at times, even entertaining. (Where else will you hear people talk about "brand build-up," "brand flossing," and "brandectomies"?) I had a lot of questions for James and he had a lot of answers. For this reason, I've split the interview into two parts.
You can check out Part 1 right here by clicking on the Flash device below:
You are also welcome to download an mp3 of this interview by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on this link, or check out this and all other Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
A few highlights of the interview can be found at the following time coordinates:
02:35 - How Brands Build Up in Brains
04:06 - Ways to Quantify Brand Loyalty
05:06 - Brand Loyalty, Brand Familiarity, and the Attentional Blink
06:45 - Dealing with Excess Brand Build-Up
08:13 - How to Forge a Robust Representation of the Brand (in the Brain)
10:27 - What Counts as an "Experience" in "Experiential Marketing"?
11:40 - Problems with Product Placement
13:23 - Brand Loyalty and Brain Damage
17:43 - A Brand Is the Net Sum of All Experiences You've Had with a Product/Company
19:22 - The Web as a Branding Medium
23:09 - Segmenting the Brand
26:09 - The One Rule that Fits All Branding and Marketing Activity
Laurie Baldwin, who is represented by Aquent's Richmond Office, has spent the last five years running a successful search engine marketing company with clients like Wrigley's, Lumber Liquidators, and the Christian Children's Fund. A self-proclaimed Web marketing "addict" -- she named her dog "DotCom," her license plate reads, "GOOGL ME," and even tried to name her family's gecko "Google," until her children rebelled - she has been doing work in and around the Internet since 1995.
Everyone knows that SEO and SEM are important components of contemporary marketing, but there is so much advice out there about how to do it right, that it can get pretty overwhelming. In the interest of cutting through the noise, we asked Laurie to tell us the five things that people most frequently forget about SEO and SEM. Here's what she said.
1. Content Is Still King
When trying to optimize their sites, companies too often spend a lot of time focusing on technical things like metatags. They forget that if you have an authoritative site that talks about relevant stuff, you will be ranked.
The technical elements that matter to the search engines are always changing - the importance of content remains constant. Your site should talk about who you are, what you do, and who you take care of. Forget the "leading edge, highly competitive, committed to innovation"-type copy. People are looking for specific things so you should say specific things.
2. Think Like Your Customers
We had a client who sold fake eyebrows for cancer patients going through chemo. These folks weren't looking for "cancer solutions" or something like that, they were looking for FAKE EYEBROWS. You've got to show up where people are looking and that means you have to know where they are looking and what they are looking for. Ask them.
And while you're at it, ask them, if they did happen to find you, did they find what they wanted? If they didn't, make sure that the search terms you are optimizing for and the actual content of your site match.
3. Traditional Media Still Matter
Let your different marketing pieces talk to each other. Use your keywords and the key marketing ideas from your website in your radio, tv, and newspaper advertising. People will often Google the words, characters, etc. that appear in your ads. In fact, they will generally Google before they go to your site or your store, so make sure you are taking this into account when you are buying search terms.
Ron Leland of Real Life Brand Architecture is an architect by training, a surfer by vocation, and happens to be the president of the Orange County Chapter of the AIGA. He's an enthusiastic, reflective, and interesting guy who has worked with a broad range of clients including mutual fund companies, wineries, and jazz prodigies like Matt Savage.
I had the chance to record an interview with Ron towards the end of last year but fate conspired against my posting the interview until now. It was worth the wait. Please listen in on our conversation as Ron talks about the power of architectural metaphors when communicating with design clients, his sometimes serpentine career path, and getting inspired to go to the next level.
You can check out the interview right here by clicking on the Flash device below:
You are also welcome to download an mp3 of this interview by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on this link, or check out this and all other Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
A few highlights of the interview can be found at the following time coordinates:
00:46 - Defining the word "brand"
02:36 - The power of architectural metaphors
03:50 - Brand architecture in practice: A case study from the film industry
07:07 - The need for a flexible brand development process
09:00 - Branding challenges when a company reaches the age of 130
11:33 - Measuring brand success: "Clear $30 million in 45 days"
15:47 - Branding a jazz prodigy
19:20 - High-end designer homes, surf club newsletters, and "real estate propaganda"
21:42 - What's interesting about design conferences
22:26 - Getting the most out of the AIGA (Hint: It involves giving!)
26:00 - The outsider's perspective and the dangers of "techno-speak"
30:19 - "Oh my gosh, I've got stuff to learn"
Debbie Weil is a corporate blogging and social media consultant who literally wrote the book on corporate blogging, which she aptly entitled, The Corporate Blogging Book. I had the good fortune of interviewing her the other day on the three "don'ts" of corporate blogging (don't focus on the technology; don't outsource the writing; don't overestimate the amount of work it will require), journalistic standards and blogger credibility, and the revolution in corporate communications.
I invite you to listen in on our conversation. You can do so by clicking on the device pictured below or by clicking on this link here. You may also download the mp3 by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on that link, or check out this and all other Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
A few highlights of the podcast can be found at the following time coordinates:
01:43 - How to become an "expert" 03:31 - It's not easy to do a really good corporate blog 08:50 - Top 3 Dont's of Corporate Blogging 11:38 - Think of a blog as a next generation website 15:53 - Manufacturing authenticity 21:38 - A collection of intersecting communities 23:10 - The first step is always to listen 25:05 - You can't start blogging until you're in a different mindset 28:02 - Can you make a career in blogging? (Answer: Probably not)
I was on vacation last week and that means I got to hang out with one of my cousins in Vermont. We were talking about work, partly because she's still trying to decide on a career and partly because, from time to time, I'm given to complaining about my job and wondering if there could be something better out there. (Of course, as all my bosses and super-bosses know, there really could not be anything better than the job I currently, and, God willing, always shall have at Aquent. Thank you for the ongoing opportunity to find personal fulfillment again and again within the hallowed halls of this, our corporate headquarters!)
I told my cousin that I was just one of those people who shouldn't have to work - I fully realize how entitled and immature that sounds - and she said, "Me too!" Sadly, she and I do have to work, and although I've settled into my ever-evolving role here, she is still searching for one of her own. In the course of our conversation, however, it came out that she had been invited to accompany a friend who is going on tour with some big rock act this summer. She did the same thing last summer with Aerosmith, and one result was that she got to take a bunch of pictures, like this one, of the Bad Boys of Beantown as they rocked Latvia. Turns out that she's sort of a natural rock photographer. Who knew?
In other words, even though my cousin is now considering going to nursing school, she could end up having a career capturing the unkillable dinosaurs of rock for posterity. Which made me think not only of the many unexpected twists and turns a life may take, but also how many careers, even my own, are utterly accidental (at least, or perhaps especially, at the outset).
How accidental has yours been and what have you done to make it less accidental? Or have you?
Image Courtesy of jon hanson. If you are wondering why I chose this image, I have two words for you, "Saddle Grouper."
Upon reflection, I found my last post glib and platitudinous, and I apologize for that. Having experienced unemployment and under-employment, I know that it doesn't have to be a worst-case scenario for it to be pretty lame. Looking for a job because you really need a job can be stressful, frustrating, and even humiliating. Funnily enough, when I was in those situations, I generally found work through temp agencies. Although they didn't often find me work from one day to the next, they usually did have me working within a week or two. And that was a good thing.
Of course, a source of semi-regular income does not a career path make, nor is it the high road to personal fulfillment. To paraphrase Citizen Kane, "It's not hard to make money, if all you want to do is make money." The questions that I glossed over - "What do I want to do?", "Where do I want to work?", etc. - are really the hard questions. Finding any job at all is infinitely easier than finding the job you want. In fact, finding any job at all can often be easier than figuring out what you want to do in the first place.
Which is why my last post annoyed me. Everyone knows that planning for the future will give you more control over your life, that networking is the best way to get a job (better than responding to an on-line job ad, for example), and so on, but that's not the point. Along those lines, it's easy to say, "Think of 5 people you could call on to help you find a job." It's not even that hard to actually do. In fact, it's probably just as easy to think up 5 people who could lend you money in the short term to help you make rent. Coming up with 5 people who can help you get exactly what you want, given you know what that is, then actually calling them, actually asking for help, actually getting them to help you, and all that, is, well, easier said than done.
At this juncture, I could say, "Which is where Aquent comes in. If you're pursuing a career in marketing or design, we ARE the people who can help you get what you want." But I'm not going to, because that would be cheap and marketing-y. Instead, I wanted to take a second and advocate "the easy way."
The other day I came across a query on ProfNet from a journalist who was writing an article on how one should manage one's time after losing one's job. Specifically, she wanted to know if people should take time off, immediately start looking for a new job, or possibly get a temp job just to pay the bills.
I sent her my thoughts on the subject which boiled down to, "It all depends." That is, it all depends on whether or not losing your job is a "worst-case scenario," an overcomeable inconvenience, or a blessed relief. In the latter case, unemployment might give you some time to relax, reflect, and enjoy a life of leisure. In the intermediate case, you may need to get your resume in order and call around to see what's cooking, but you aren't really in a state of panic. In the first case, you've got a problem.
But what exactly is the nature of that problem? As fate would have it, I've been thinking a lot about worst-case scenarios lately thanks to Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Fooled By Randomness. As far as I can make out, what distinguishes the worst-case scenario from your run-of-the-mill unpleasant situation is the fact that is, ideally, improbably rare, but for all that, overwhelmingly devastating. Its devastating character makes it a rather severe problem, but its rarity makes it all too easy to overlook, ignore, or otherwise pretend it won't happen to you. Which in a way is my point. What will tend to make unemployment a worst-case scenario is the false belief that it will never happen to you.
While I like the fact that she cautions against becoming a "report monkey" - hence her advice to leave the robot work, like automated report generation, to the robots - and recommends that you be prepared to discuss what you do in concise terms, she really got me thinking about the unique pressure experienced by web analytic folk given that, as she points out, they "sit between the techies and the marketers."
June says you should, "make friends on both sides of the fence." The obvious implication is that there are significant differences between the marketers and the techies, the former focused on consumers, products, and revenue, the latter focused on systems, functions, and users; the former tending to be qualitative, the latter quantitative, etc. While some of these differences are undeniably "real," I think It's fortuitous that June uses the metaphor of a "fence," as opposed to a "wall" or a "chasm," because I believe that whatever divides marketers and techies has become increasingly porous and ultimately temporary (like a hastily erected chain-line fence around a construction site).
Since we Aquenters are strewn liberally across the globe, we need to make a special effort to get everybody together and remind ourselves that the wide world of Aquent includes many more folks than we see around our particular office on a daily basis. To that end, every year or two we hold a big get-together called, "BTS," which stands for "Back to School." It's a chance for everyone to hear from the CEO, John Chuang, not to mention other luminaries like the CEO of Aquent International, Greg Savage, get some training, and have some fun.
I have traditionally been the host and MC for these things and that has usually involved writing songs and poems about the company. Three years ago, I performed a "rap" song entitled, "Milllion Dolla' Client," that showcased the 22 clients with whom we had done more than a million dollars worth of business in the previous year. It featured dope rhymes such as, "I came to drop science 'bout 22 clients/ They used to be tiny, but now they're giants," and, "I know it sounds whack/ But please stop laughing/ A lot of our engagements are/ Straight up staffing!" To this day I regret that I did not capture this performance on video and post it to YouTube to be mocked by one and all for my unrepentant corporate chicanerie.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, here's the rub. After I had thrown down, I ran into the CEO and he asked, "Do you think that seemed professional?" It was fairly lo-fi, goofy, and amateurish, so, I said, "No." But then I added, "My goal is always to get people to think, 'I've never worked at a place like this.'"
He looked at me and said, "I guess you've achieved your goal, at least in your case, because as of now you don't work here anymore. You're fired."
PSYCHE! In all honesty, I can't recall if he responded to me at all, but I believe my point was well taken. This company has always been imbued with a spirit of entrepreneurship, independence, and iconoclasm. It's also always been a place where fun and enthusiasm are not only welcomed but encouraged.
Composing and performing a rap song to celebrate our success may not have been "professional," but, it was quintessentially "Aquent."
Look, the interweb is really big and my time is limited, people!
Anyway, while trying to find out more about Mr. Webster and is non-stop funniosity, I came across this gem, apparently created for the ADDY Awards by The Meyocks Group a coupla years ago:
What I appreciate most about this video is the way that it makes fun of an entire industry AND every individual contributor! Thank GOD I don't work in advertising! Marketing is a whole different ball of wax....
Aquent is going to be at FUSE: Design, Culture and Branding Conference this year, if for no other reason than that, "Every year, hundreds of design legends and corporate superstars converge at FUSE to experience a sense of community in the brand and design capital of the world - New York City." I mean, it's kind of a no-brainer.
What's more is, we're able to offer you a discount on the standard registration fee! To take advantage of this discount, all you need to do is reference this code when registering: SPONM2007AQ.
Registration is fairly simple. You can do so by calling 888.670.8200, emailing, register@iirusa.com or visiting the website.
The other night I was talking to a friend of mine, Peter Dixon, about his cool new cd, "Shady Planet." It hasn't been selling as well as he had hoped, so I, as Mr. New World of Marketing, was suggesting some things he could do to promote it.
For example, I mentioned starting a blog or, better yet, a video blog, in which he talked about music (he knows a lot about music of all flavors), songwriting (he's a melody machine), the making of this cd, and other projects he's been involved with (one of his former bands, Combustible Edison, recorded for SubPop).
Since writing a blog can be sort of time-consuming, I said he could simply start by hunting down music blogs that talked about his old band, or even his new cd, and leave a comment, start a conversation, whatever. As I put it, bloggers are always looking for content and, in a way, he is content.
My basic message was that you don't need a big record label or a press agent to make this stuff happen; you could do it yourself. But before he acted on any of my brilliant ideas, I told him, he needed to decide what he wanted. For example, if he wanted to sell cd's, how many did he want to sell? His exact course of action will naturally depend on whether he wants to sell 500 or 5,000. I thought he should also create a profile of the type of person who he imagines would buy this cd and start thinking about where these people might hang out (both on-line and off-line). Etc. In my view, the more specific he can get about his actual goals, the easier it should be for him to devise and execute a plan that gets him where he wants to go.
In this case, as in many others, however, the big question is: Where SPECIFICALLY do you want to go?
Greetings, loyal followers and coincidental visitors of Aquent's Talent Blog!
I know I only did one post last week and I extend my heartfelt and sincere apologies for my shortcomings and unworthiness. I'm back in the saddle this week, though, and vow to return to my 3+ posts pace. Wish me luck!
In any event, I blame my other marketing duties for my blog-wise slackness . We've been pursuing a kind of "thought-leadership" strategy for the past year and I've kind of become "chief thought leader" (what else would a Minister of Enlightenment be?).
In addition to this blog and the Talent Blog Podcast, not to mention the numerous webcasts we sponsor, host, and produce, I edit several newsletters that we send out to clients and talent. Getting all the details wrapped up on those can eat up time faster than a dog eats homework. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the newsletters ate my blog-work.
The talent newsletter primarily features "hot jobs" and career advice while the client newsletter generally focuses on some particular aspect of marketing and includes interviews and insights from our talent and any relevant experts we can track down. I think the content in the client newsletter tends to be pretty strong - judge for yourself by checking out this article on expanding your brand's global footprint, or this one on building branded entertainment sites - though the newsletter has been "under-performing," in terms of people actually clicking on the links to the articles. I've got some ideas about improving things and will try them out over the next few months.
The writing is on the FunWall: Marketing is undergoing an unprecedented and overwhelming proliferation of channels. This isn't new news, naturally. It's been going on for a while, what with computers in taxicabs and digital bulletin in elevators and all. But it does seem like every day the web is adding another site, another portal, or another technology that will allow people to connect with each other and, by extension, allow marketers to connect with consumers.
So, in addition to your direct mail campaigns, your advertising (on and off-line), and your promotions, you, Mr and/or Ms. Marketer, need to figure out whether or not you should be blogging, vlogging, Twittering, or podcasting. How can you use Facebook and MySpace? How can you leverage LinkedIn and Plaxo? Where is your sim in Second Life? Your Halo tie-in? Your product placement in Grand Theft Auto? An what about that other cool thing you read or heard about but aren't even sure what it's for?
Everyone feels like they should be doing all or some of the above, but there are so many possibilities, and so much on your plate already, that it's hard to know where to start. To help clear the air and provide some sort of guide to the perplexed, I hunted down a couple of new media-savvy marketers and asked them quite simply: How can marketers best figure out what they should get into and what they can profitably avoid?
We've been hearing about the credit meltdown and the bursting housing bubble for a while, but Fed Chief Bernanke was talking yesterday about a worsening economic outlook and even the President is finally copping to the notion that the economy "faces challenges". So what does this mean for folks who, for one reason or another, decide to work as "temps" (which, as I mentioned in my last post, is basically everybody)?
I'm not an economist or a policy wonk; I'm just a humble doctor of philosophy who has been working in the temporary staffing industry one way or the other for going on 20 years, but this is how I see it. Rising unemployment rates are rarely good for anyone, and if we glance back to 2001/2002, when a lot of people came to us looking for work, things weren't exactly hunky-dory. Be that as it may, there may be some upside for temps, at least in the short term, to an economic downturn.
Here's how it works, at least in theory. As the economy slows, companies start worrying about spending money. Hiring "permanent" staff becomes a dodgy proposition because you're adding an indefinite cost to your budget at a time when indefiniteness is more scary than reassuring. Still, you've got stuff to do and chances are you need to hire people to do it. So you turn to freelancers and temp agencies to find people who will work on projects and then leave when the projects are complete, thus making your costs more definite and predictable. In other words, towards the beginning of a downturn, temporary staff, thanks to its "flexibility," starts to look pretty appealing.
In my last post, I floated out various reasons why people "temp" in hopes of dispelling the notion that people temp because they can't find permanent work. In this post, I want to debunk the myth of the "perm job" itself.
To get all heavy and existential, 'cuz that's how I roll, teachers from Buddha to Heraclitus have taught that change and impermanence are an integral part of existence and cannot be escaped or avoided. This applies to employment just as it does to living bodies and any object subject to entropic flux.
Everyone knows this intuitively, and yet, when we apply for or are offered a "full-time job," while we know that it won't be "permanent" like death, we assume the amount of time we will end up giving to the company is more or less in our control and practically indefinite. Indeed, this implied indefiniteness tends to separate the full-time employees from contractors who, as the name implies, work under a contract stipulating the terms and, more importantly, the length of their employment.
Of course, anyone who has gone through a round of lay-offs, downsizing, or re-organization knows that this sense of indefiniteness and permanence is an illusion.
Anyone watching Aquent over the last few years would see that we've shifted the emphasis in our marketing from "the world's largest talent agency for creative, web, and tech," back in 2001, to "a professional services firm that specializes in helping companies all over the world, across a variety of industries, make use of people, processes, and technology" with a "marketing and creative services group" that included a consulting and a technology offering in addition to staffing, to the current positioning of "staffing for marketing organizations" (which is fudged a little in the title of the homepage which reads "marketing and creative staffing at Aquent.com").
These shifts in emphasis have been driven by our desire to grow beyond our origins in desktop publishing and graphic design (both print and web). Truth be told, we still place a lot of folks in these so-called "creative" roles and probably have not yet exhausted the business potential of this space. Nevertheless, the organizational fact of the matter is that creative folk are generally working for marketing folk and creative services departments are frequently nestled within or otherwise adjoined to marketing departments. Given this arrangement, it seemed a natural extension of our business to expand beyond the edges of creative into the broader world of marketing proper and that is just what we've done.
I know I said in my last post that I was going to talk more about Aquent and give the folks who are Aquent more of a voice here. Believe me, I will. But it's sort of late in the day and I want to get another post up, so I thought I would talk about something else: Hate.
"Hate" might be a strong word in this context, but I've been getting some funny reactions from folks, friends of mine, actually, when I tell them that I am "in marketing." For instance, I ran into an old buddy this morning on the "T" and, in the course of talking told him that I worked in marketing. "You don't look it," he quipped.
That's sort of a benign comment, even a kind of backhanded compliment, I suppose, and I probably wouldn't have noted it if it hadn't echoed similar sentiments I've recently encountered. To be specific, last Wednesday, talking with friends over drinks I mentioned my role as a a marketer and my friends said, "We won't tell anybody." Again, fairly low-level, but a kind of a dis, nonetheless, and one I was particularly sensitive to because only a few hours prior to that, when told that I was a marketer, another friend had said, "Well, at least it seems like you still have a soul."
In one of my last posts, I addressed the issue of "voice" and the difference between the "corporate voice," which I tend to use for this blog, and my own voice, which peeks through here and there but is more or less repressed. That post was sparked by the realization both that I was using the corporate voice without anyone explicitly telling me to do so and that I knew implicitly how the corporate voice should "sound," again, without anyone ever instructing me on its proper use.
Although I was focused on a curious sociological fact - i.e., that people learn how to act "professionally" by osmosis - with a little bit of navel gazing thrown in for good measure, the comments I received got me out of my own personal quandary ("How can I write for Aquent and still be me?") and have set me on a new blogging path. Specifically, the words of Kris Rzepkowski resonated strongly with me. As he put it, "The corporate voice of Aquent is the sum of the talent they've chosen to retain." In other words, the real issue isn't whether I'm using a stilted or sterile corporate voice instead of my own scintillating and incisive voice. The issue is that the voices of Aquent's many talent are not being heard here.
Of course, I have profiled and written about Aquent Talent , and I thought I had made it clear that I welcome guest bloggers, but nevertheless this blog has remained "mine" in many ways. Accordingly, I resolve in the 2008 to get more voices of Talent on this here blog. I also hereby resolve to write more as "Talent" myself. I first came to Aquent as a temp back in the MacTemps days and, in many ways, still think of myself that way. I also think that there are some valuable career lessons to be learned from the meandering course of my own.
Finally, and this will be a big and shocking break, I want to make this blog more about Aquent (which, frankly, was the suggestion of Lewis Green). I've consciously avoided adopting a "Rah Rah Aquent!" tone on this blog and, even when writing about Talent that we work with, I've taken pains to highlight their skills, experience, and insight, and not dwell so much on the role that Aquent has played in their careers, even though their connection to Aquent is the main reason that I'm writing about them.
A year ago our COO said, "I'm still not sure if the perspective of the blog should be 'I bleed orange,' or not." Now, I may stop short of bleeding orange, but I will write more openly and enthusiastically about this company. I've worked here for over 10 years and think that the people I've met, both Talent and staff, are cool, interesting, and deserving of praise and, frankly, hype.
So, Happy New Year, everybody. I'm looking forward to 2008 and I promise, with your help, to make this blog ever more smashingly fabulous. Cheers!
You launch a new product and it doesn't perform as you hoped. What do you do? Well, you could turn to someone like Irma Salinas for answers.
Irma is represented by Aquent's Connecticut office and is currently working on the "Marketing Insights" Team at a large non-alcoholic beverages company (as it turns out, she actually started her career at an international spirits company importing beer from Latin America). She got involved in doing product reviews when working for a research company where she was very involved in reviewing and reporting on the performance of non-carbonated beverages (water, teas, juices, etc.). "I started working in this area when it was really getting competitive. It was a very exciting time. The market for beverages was changing and I learned a lot."
Irma was frequently involved in reviewing the performance of new products. I asked her both why new products don't perform well, but also how companies go about setting sales goals for new products in the first place. "Of course, there is a very extensive process that large companies go through to develop and launch new products," Irma assures me, "and since they have tested it with consumers, etc., you soon discover that the reasons for poor performance are not usually to be found in the product itself."
"If you're not thinking segmentation, then you're not thinking," Ted Levitt of the Harvard Business School supposedly quipped. While every marketer would readily agree with him, getting segmentation right can be as challenging as it is necessary - and getting it wrong can be downright disastrous: Working with segmentation schema that are irrelevant to your business is a waste of time and money; working with too few or too broadly defined segments means missed opportunities; and working with too many or too narrowly defined segments means stretching your marketing resources to their breaking point.
Since there are so many options and variables involved in segmenting your audience, it is best to rely on analysts, either external or internal, who understand your business and who understand how to match your needs with the myriad segmenting approaches. To sketch out a useable framework for getting the most valuable results from your segmentation provider, I consulted Ben Ben-Baruch, a Senior Business Intelligence Consultant represented by Aquent who got his first contract assignment with General Motors in 1997 and has been there ever since.
"Whatever segmentation provider you use and whatever methodologies and data they employ," Ben says, "the key is ensuring that you can use the segmentation to meet your business goals. Finding a provider that thinks in terms of your business, presents the data with an emphasis on its proper use, and makes it easy to keep the data fresh, is critical not only to the success of your segmentation process, but to the success of your marketing efforts in general."
Many moons ago, a friend of mine sent me a book entitled, Disciplined Minds, the subtitle of which reads, "A critical look at salaried professionals and the soul-battering system that shapes their lives." I actually read the book straightaway, but my feelings about it were so conflicted that I kept them to myself until now.
The book is really two books in one. Part of it, the best part, is a detailed critique of the process of achieving a doctorate in physics and what happens to doctoral candidates along the way. The other, less convincing, part is a broad critique of the division of labor, capitalist society, and the role that salaried professionals play in maintaining and perpetuating the status quo.
Schmidt views the working world in classically Marxist terms in which there is an inherent, exploitative conflict between employees and managers. The problem for the managers lies in the fact that they cannot tell everyone exactly what to do all the time. Some jobs require independent thinking and creativity. "Beyond a certain point on such a job," Schmidt writes, "the worker faces a blank sheet of paper and th boss can't tell her exactly what to do. Here employers simply expect their creative workers to act in the corporate interest..."
(Note: I had to repost this entry without the Odeo player due to a technical glitch. If I can fix it I will. - Matt)
William Lunderman is VP of Global Strategic Brand Design at Colgate-Palmolive. He's thus far led quite an illustrious career as a designer and design leader for well-known brands like Revlon and iconic brands like Campbell's Soup. I invite you to listen to our conversation. I went into it assuming, somewhat naively, I admit, that globalization was all about localization and tailoring your products and messages to the world's varied environs. While that is certainly part of multi-national marketing execution, this sort of endless variation is not the essence of global brand strategy.
From a strategic standpoint, as I learned, the key is, on the contrary, honing in on the universal need addressed by your brand's promise. The trick then becomes effectively translating that promise into a culturally relevant consumer language. At least that's how I understood the sage words of Mr. William Lunderman when we spoke.
If you would like to hear what I heard, you can download the mp3 by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) this link here (of course, if you just click on that link, it will play the file for you), or check out all the Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
Highlights of the podcast can be found at the following time coordinates:
00:50 - What is "Global Strategic Brand Design?" 04:32 - The Emotional Aspect of the Brand 07:41 - Thinking about Consumers on a Universal Level 09:55 - "Children like to play in their food" 10:41 - AXE - as a Brand 12:16 - Kellogg's and "Owning the Morning" 15:13 - Package as "Delivery Mechanism" of Brand Design 17:08 - The Current Consumer Language 19:55 - The Consumer's Perception of "The Best" 24:23 - Brands at Home and Home Brands 28:09 - Why We Move to New Brands 30:22 - Design Careers: When You Move to the Next Level 32:59 - "Obsolete yourself" - On Evolving and Avoiding Extinction
Jim Sterne, the producer of the eMetrics Summit and the president of the Web Analytics Association, has been talking about the internet and marketing since 1993. Indeed, he was kind enough to talk to me about it just the other day as part of the Talent Blog Podcast. We discussed highlights from the various eMetrics Summits in 2007, how the conference is evolving, and what folks can expect from the summits in 2008. We also talked about changes in the field of web analytics since he and Matt Cutler issued their landmark 2000 white paper, "E-Metrics - Business Metrics for the New Economy."
You may listen to our conversation by clicking on the device below:
You can also download the mp3 by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) this link here, or check out all the Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
Highlights of the podcast can be found at the following time coordinates:
00:45 - 2007 eMetrics Summit Overview
02:50 - Summit Content for 2008: More Mainstream Marketing
04:29 - The Buzz around "Engagement"
06:40 - The Slow Growth of "Standards"
09:29 - Website "Slipperiness"
12:20 - Measuring the Success of the Website Overall
16:39 - The People Component of eMetrics
20:18 - Your Website is Your End of the Conversation: Are You Listening?
23:20 - "Website" Is a Verb
It's hard to believe that December is well-nigh upon us, but that is the horrible and shocking truth.
Since this is a time when many companies slow down or halt their hiring activities altogether, it also means that this is a good time for job seekers to take stock of their career aspirations and job-search resources.
It's not surprising that you can find a wealth of job search advice on the Web. There is everything from the copious compendium of job search resources known as The Riley Guide to the step-by-step instructions provided by Job-Hunt.org. And much, much more.
While thinking about the next stage in your career could involve a lot of soul-searching - "What do I want from life?" What is my passion?" "Who am I?" - there are also a number of nitty-gritty, practical steps you can take before, after, or during this self-interrogation. Here are 5 we recommend:
David has literally written the book on the "new rules of marketing and PR." I spoke with him about thought leadership strategies, building user personas, and using press releases as a marketing tool. If you have the time, please check out our conversation and let me know what you think.
You can hear the interview by clicking on the device below:
Greg Kuchmek, who is represented by Aquent's DC office, has been working on the web since 1994. That's when he was hired to help produce a webzine, Stim, started by Prodigy. [Editor's Note: For an interesting flashback to 1996, read Ty Burr's review of Stim, which he gives a B+, and Slate, which he gives a C+]. When that gig ended in 1997 he discovered that, "3 years web experience was amazing. I was 'senior' automatically."
You might not expect a graphic designer working as part of a program support center housed within the 
