New York Is a Very Small Island

Okay.. It's come to this. Another "it's a small world post." On Saturday, I went to a World Cup Soccer game party at a bar in the West Village. I was invited by a friend of a friend - someone I had just met a week earlier through (try to follow me here) my ex boyfriend of 4 yrs ago's, friend's ex girlfriend. Even though my friend wasn't going, I figured I'd keep with my "When in doubt, go out" motto of meeting new people. I noticed, oddly enough that on the guest list, there was a girl I met a few months ago at a bar and became friends with because we're in the same industry. Small world. Then while I was watching the game, I noticed someone who looked like some guy I went to high school with. Actually my sister's good friend's brother. Finally, I got up the nerve to talk to him and it turned out it was him! And he works in advertising. Small world. He actually thought I looked exactly like my sis. I guess people think that if we're not together. Small world.

Then last night, I went to an Advertising Club of New York panel discussion. I was sitting down, waiting for it to start when a girl came up to me, asking if I was at the event alone. Hmm.. yes I was. So she sat next to me and introduced herself. Fast forward to this morning. My friend Gchatted me and mentioned her roommate was at the event. She knew I was there because of my FourSquare. She said her name and I described the girl sitting next to me. Same person. Holy cow. Small world.

The end.

Tête-à-Tête Tuesdays with Molly

photo by Emily Gilbert

Tory Williams and I went to Skidmore together and have gotten to know each other much better over the last few years. She's an award winner photographer - smart, talented, adventurous and seems to have a strong idea of what she wants in life. You can check out her website at www.torywilliams.com and hire her for your upcoming wedding at www.torywilliams.com/weddings. Tory is constantly on the move. To see what she's up to, check out her blog.

How did you get into photography and what was your first job out of college?

Out of college I was offered a job as a raft guide on the Hudson and to take pictures at a hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan. It was a defining time – do I want to be a raft guide or a photographer? So obviously I chose the photography gig. It was kind of a cool situation, I lived on this island with no cars and took portraits of people at the hotel. I did family portraits and events. I learned a ton and made lots of friends who I then followed to New York City.

It definitely doesn’t sound like a loser job. Did you take photography classes at Skidmore? 

Skidmore didn’t offer too many photography classes so when I studied abroad in Paris, I was given the opportunity to do an independent study with an artist. She had a darkroom in her apartment. So I really picked up photography in Paris, which is kind of appropriate because photography was discovered there.

After coming to NY, did you work as an assistant?

When I came to NY I had no idea what to because it’s a daunting task to come here and be a photographer. You just need to meet people. Tavern on the Green was hiring event photographers so I took that job. I had to go around to each table on Valentines Day and such and ask them if they wanted their photo taken as a couple. It was kind of a humiliating job to some extent but it got me out there. Through that, I met a wedding photographer who I started assisting and also met an older man who became my mentor. I don’t work for him anymore but he's still a close friend. 

How long did you assist before landing your first assignment?

Around the same time I applied for an internship at a still life studio because I figured I needed to learn something about lighting. I interned there for a few months and they started hiring me as an assistant and then as a photographer. I fell into shooting stiff life through them but they also had connections to magazines and basically, everyone so I just built my network through them.

What are your thoughts on school versus working as an assistant?

I’ve always taken the approach of taking classes here and there but when I first came to New York, I didn’t have any cash. I went to ICP and TA’d a whole bunch of classes. So I got to essentially be a student but I also developed relationships with teachers so that led to more assisting jobs. School is just not for everyone. I’m a very hands on person so I didn’t want to go and sit in a three hour critique. I wanted to learn how to use a camera. So I feel like today I have a strong technical sense because of the way I started.

Do you have any overall valuable advice you can pass on to people starting out?

I think it’s taken me a really long time to realize that I should just be myself. And that also goes into man different areas of life. But I think in photography there are so many photographers out there and essentially it’s just your point of view of the world that you’re capturing. And if you just be yourself, you’re unique. For a long time I was so desperate to get jobs I was trying to be like everyone else. Now I understand that if you’re just yourself and believe in what you do, of course, you’re going to do well. Another good advice that someone gave me a long time ago is that you’re working for yourself. So it’s who you are that they’re hiring. Your skills, a lot of times, are secondary. You’re spending a lot of time with this person. It’s a collaboration. Treat everyone like they’re your clients. That is the best advice that anyone has ever given me. Conversations on subways can bring you jobs. Great example is that I became friends with the studio intern. She became a photo editor and hired me for a job.

Does your blog get you jobs?

I don’t know if the blog has gotten me jobs. I think the blog has helped me create a voice and be myself. You have your website and try to be commercial to an extent but with a blog you can just be yourself. And that’s where I really found this path of being really open and honest about my process. I bet most of the people who comment on my blog are people who are interested in the industry and not direct clients.

Tell me about the challenges of going from photography to film and video editing. 

Video is so hard. That was the first thing I discovered. A year ago I had a video camera put in my hand and created the worst thing ever. Crazy images. Then the teacher told me “would you ever take that picture?” “No.” So I started to think about it more in terms of pictures which is kind of obvious but when you have it in your hand it’s not so obvious. It’s a natural progression in the sense that the industry is going that way and since the web is such a great platform for showing full stories – it’s one more way of story telling. It’s a new challenge and I always need new challenges.

When you’re leaving for a shoot, what do you pack?

Always bring a backup camera. Always! Always! Always bring lots of memory cards. Double of everything. Two battery packs, two flashes, I always bring a reflector and never use it. Lots of lenses. Tripod. I sometimes experiment a little with hot lights, etc.

What are your thoughts on freelancing versus working 9-5? Is it harder? More fulfilling?

Well that’s the thing about freelance is that you’re going to work so much more than everybody else. But mainly it’s all in your head because you’re working all the time thinking about things, doing these things and everything in your life is work. I wake up early or try to. I work a lot from home because a lot of my stuff is post-production or returning emails or stuff like that. I respond to clients at 2 in the morning sometimes. I’m always working. But at the same time I dictate the terms of my work and now that I have more consistent work, I can turn things down that are not appropriate for me. That’s a huge difference because now I’m not breaking my back for things I don’t believe it.

What do you like most about being a photographer?

I just like freedom. I really do. It’s a perfect medium for me because I’m interested in so many thing and if I was just to do one thing it would be really hard for me because I’m always so curious about everything. As a photographer I get to slip into the life of a ski patroller for a day, of a psychologist for another day, of a non-profit. I get to travel the world. I get to live so many different lives and appropriate people’s experiences constantly. So that’s what I like about it.

Music and Images

For the last few days, I've been trying to find the right music to put in the background of a photo slide show I made for this application. One of the biggest struggles is to prevent myself from choosing the music just because I like it. Or the music makes me happy.. motivated, etc. So I thought - hey, why not make a slide show with music I like on my blog. Here it goes. This first video was made sometime during the winter (wow - feels so far away) using video I shot on my iPhone at a Body & Soul party. The song is Mr. McGee by Zero 7 off of their latest album. I kind of lucked out in that the flashing lights matched the music.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8266951&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Music Video from Molly A on Vimeo.

Exercise Advice: I should be sleeping... but I'm posting

My sister sent me a great list by Forbes of top 100 Website for women. So I've been going through the list. I don't usually share exercise advice. Not entirely sure why. Mainly cause I rarely do anything nowadays beyond walking up 5 flights of stairs multiple times a day and my ridiculously hard spinning class.. but found this on a great site: Jane Has a Job.

Got Only 30 Minutes at the Gym? Here’s How to Make the Best of It

by Jane Has A Job Guest Blogger on June 25, 2010

in #LivingWell

[Ed.: This workout comes from a real, live personal trainer. Don't worry, it's not from me -- I don't think anyone would ever mistake me for a fitness expert.]
It’s easy to convince yourself to skip a workout, especially when it’s just one. The thing is, usually that one will turn into another, until eventually you’ve missed a whole week or month of fitness.

One of the number one reasons that people give me when they’re rationalizing their infidelity to health is their lack of time. I’m going to kill that excuse for you right now and give you a fast fat-burning workout to kick your results into high gear.
The best thing you’re going to hear in this whole post is that to get a nicely toned body you don’t have to do any cardio at all. None. Without getting into the complicated bioenergetics too much, doing resistance training burns way more fat than cardio does.
Now I know exactly what you’re thinking, “but I always bulk up when I do weights!” There are a few reasons that you’ve bulked up in the past, but the workout I’m going to show you at the end of this post won’t make you bulk up.*
*Note: Everyone will “bulk up” for the first 2-4 weeks when starting a new resistance program; it’s your muscles defending themselves. That means stick with it past 2-4 weeks, and the swelling will go down.
Let’s get back to that whole cardio thing. Conventional wisdom is that 1 hour of cardio with a few hand weights and ab exercises will get you fit. While you may burn more calories during a workout like that, the benefits pretty much stop right after. With a workout that gets your heart rate up by incorporating resistance training you can increase your metabolism for up to 72 hours. Pretty sweet, right?
On top of that it’s nearly impossible to keep up the intensity of these kinds of workouts for an hour, meaning that you can get everything done in a half hour (or even 10 minutes if that’s all you’ve got). No more “I don’t have time” excuse.
No boring cardio. Awesome results.
Without further ado here’s that workout I promised.
Results-Oriented Workout in 30 Minutes or Less
Perform each of these exercises back to back for as much time as you have, or up to 30 minutes. Take breaks when you have to, and do the first round of each exercise at an easy pace to allow your body to warm up.
1.     Lunges – complete 10 on each leg
2.     Push-ups (yes, knee push-ups are okay) – complete 10
3.     Squats – complete 10
4.     Plank (like a push-up, only you’re on your elbows and you don’t move) – hold for as long as you can. Here’s an example from YouTube, but hold it for longer than she counts.
5.     Squat thrusts (squat down to the ground, jump your legs back to a push-up position, do a push-up, jump back to the low squat, jump in the air) – Complete 10. Here’s a good example with some progressions.
A quick word of caution: Don’t go beyond your limits! This workout is for those who have consulted with their doctors.
You can do this kind of workout on non consecutive days (Mondays and Wednesdays, for example), and you can also substitute or add other exercises — just make sure that they are big movements like squats or push-ups.
Kian is an A.C.E. certified Personal Trainer, STOTT Trained Pilates instructor, and is finishing his masters in Kinesiology. He made his transition from “fat kid” to fitness professional, and it’s his passion to help as many people as possible reach their fitness goals. He is currently the owner of Ameli Training in Concord CA, and runs a health and fitness blog at www.amelitraining.com.

Friday Morning Inspiration - Scott Belsky

I wanted to share with my readers one of the most inspirational, informative talks I saw during Internet Week New York a few weeks ago. Part One:

Scott Belsky, from the creative network Behance and author of "Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming Obstacles Between Vision and Reality" spoke about idea generation and actually working on ones creative endeavors. He studied people who make ideas happen and how they push them to fruition; Google, writers, photographers, etc. And he realized the success of the idea has nothing to do with how great the idea is. Wouldn't it be cool if our society was an "Ideatocracy," he asked. For example, you'd never see a bad movie again. But obviously that's not the case so he spoke of the creative process and how to complete a project.

Most people get a project plateau right after the initial idea realizing they have to actually execute it. The biggest problems is that we're in a "reactionary workflow" constantly inundated with communication. We're constantly reacting to emails, Tweets, status updates, etc. instead of our own work. Ignore the clutter. Set aside time (use a timer) where you're off the internet or can discipline yourself NOT to check it.

Managing projects are key. The more organic the project flow is, the more likely you’re going to stay on top of project. Break projects into arbitrary increments of time. Milestones. Tasks associated with milestones. And adjust milestones to other increments of times – and reconsidered and innovate.

Scott says meetings are usually called by top people who are insecure about where they are in the process. Ha! He advises every meeting to have an "action step." Cancel weekly status meetings. Do meetings while standing up so people are less likely to chit chat. 

Scott believes that when you open your email and Twitter, your whole day is wasted. Stop reacting to what’s coming to you. It won’t make you fall behind. This echoes my dad's process of working first thing in the morning. Think about the big picture. Think about urgent vs. important. 

A common theme running through Internet Week is to get a product or service out there without perfecting it. I agree with this sentiment. It's how Rent the Runway got their website out. And according to Scott, often times IDEO does rapid prototyping - seeing an object materialized so they can refine it. By putting a product out there right away, you realize you’re either horribly wrong or right. It's better to be wrong early so you can fix it.

Use community to gain traction with your ideas and leverage that community. Chris Anderson of Wired puts his idea on his blog first. If it’s so easy to replicate by someone else, then he believes its not worth doing. By seeing how people engage – he’ll judge how good it is. Then his bloggers hold him accountable to complete the idea.

Scott found three types of people while trying to profile successful creatives:

1. Dreamers - They always come up with something new. Think, "maybe we should also do this." They get high off of new ideas.

2. Doers - The Debbie Downers or the world. "Here’s why we can’t do that. Timeline isn’t there. No budget." They poke holes in dreams. They're annoying but important and thrive off of execution.

3. Incrementalists -  They have a weird innate ability to jump from dreamer to doer. Jump from idea to execution. They create too many things but nothing to scale. None had truly been successful. 

So now that you've figured out what category you fall into, how do you get things done? You partner up with a doer. Partner up with a Dreamer! Or an incrementalist. But wait. There's more! Stay tuned for Part Two!

Unemployment Via New York Magazine

"Most Americans Fail to Write Novel, Learn Italian in Spare Time

Photo: 20th Century Fox

As terrifying as the employment numbers have been over the past two years, we have to admit that a part of us has been — don't read this next line, bosses — a teensy bit jealous of people who have been laid off. The ones with decent severance packages and money in their checking accounts, who had the foresight to prepare for such an event, of course, so in this fantasy, we're not technically us. But the point is, wouldn't it just be great to have some extra time? You could get cracking on that book idea. Learn to play guitar. Volunteer with homeless special-needs kids. Make the duck en croute from that effing cookbook you bought when Julie & Julia came out that you have literally not even cracked open, and not even feel guilty about eating it because obviously, you'd be exercising loads more now that you had been unshackled from your cubicle. Your ass would really look fantastic if you were unemployed. But while many people have this kind of fantasy, few actually live it. According to the American Time Use Survey released by the Labor Department yesterday, rising unemployment has indeed left many Americans with more spare time on their hands. However, most of them have done approximately jack with it.
From the WSJ:

Time spent in front of the television rose by 12 minutes, to two hours, 49 minutes a day in the two years through 2009. Sleep was the next big gainer, increasing by six minutes to eight hours, 40 minutes a day. The data also show what Americans aren't doing with their extra time: There was virtually no change between 2007 and 2009 in the time devoted to volunteering, religious activities, exercise or education.

Well ... sleeping and watching TV sounds kind of fun, too. Except it turns out people are really judgey about it.

In sum, time people might have used productively is instead being squandered, says University of Texas economist Daniel Hamermesh. "It's not like we're using the recession to build our skills — the skills are depreciating," says Mr. Hamermesh. "It's a waste."

Ouch. That's harsh, Hamermesh. Good thing he's not talking about us, or we would feel really bad about ourselves. Now, if you'll excuse us, please, we really don't have anymore time to fritter away here, we have a job to do."

Sleep More: Check
Work on my novel: Err.. I did once. 
Watch move TV: Hellz No
Exercise more: Hmm.. that would be smart
Have been busier than I was while employed: Check! 

Future of Health: A Diet Scale That Recommends Meals

Future of Health: A Diet Scale That Recommends Meals

Future of Health: A Diet Scale That Recommends Meals

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June 22, 2010

Ji Lee, creative director at Google Creative Lab, designed the Diet Scale years ago in school, but the project is picking up significant attention due to growing need for a tool like this in today’s health culture. The Diet Scale does not merely reveal the weight of the user, but gets more involved by suggesting a specific diet to follow. The Diet Scale intimately interacts with its users by replacing numerals with meal recommendations.

We talked with Ji about his invention:

Tell us about the project of the Diet Scale and any developments since.

“This started as a student project several years ago. The assignment was to redesign a menu. I took a radical approach and ended up making a menu out of weight scale. This project was shown in my website and for several years no one seemed to pay attention to it until a few month ago, I started receiving emails from people who have seen the image on the web. Somehow it went viral online and there were a lot of interest about the diet scale suddenly. I’m looking for a manufacturer who’s willing to make this into a product. I haven’t found the right collaborator yet.”

We’re talking today because we want to understand trends at the intersection of health and technology. How your project is related with these concepts?

“What I did was to re-appropriate an existing familiar object and turn it into something else. It’s an unexpected mashup of two very different things. Usually menus are something static and set, the diet scale, brings an element of interactivity and fun. It’s a very simple technology – the scale – that has existed for centuries and all it took was to look at it a little differently and suddenly it becomes something fun and new.”

As a focus to the project – we are looking to aid UNICEF and likeminded organizations with new ideas. UNICEF’s work involves remote healthworkers. How could your project or a similar one be developed to support such work.

“Originally, I didn’t design this with grand plans in mind. It was more of a fun experiment. One thought of how this can be helpful for UNICEF’s work is to develop inexpensive scales with interchangeable menus according to one’s weight and diet needs. Instead of following a static printed menu, I believe someone who’s on a diet will see this as an interactive challenge. It visualizes immediately the dieter’s progress in an interactive way.”

Thanks Ji!

Diet Scale

Over the next few weeks, PSFK is running a trends research and innovation project in association with UNICEF. We will be researching (with your help) the development of key trends that impact health and well being and then using our findings to develop with partners concepts that UNICEF and likeminded organizations could consider deploying across the world.

Find out more here: PSFK presents the Future of Heath in association with UNICEF

Tête-à-Tête Tuesdays with Molly

Since Father’s Day just passed, and you happen to be my father, I thought it would be appropriate to interview you. Jack Aaker started out at Wells Rich Green worked at JWT, Grey, BBDO and had his own business. He is currently a senior creative at the Kaplan Thaler Group.

Can you tell me a little bit about where you’re from and how you got into advertising?

I’m from a small town in Minnesota and went to college in Minnesota. During my Sophomore year, I saw a picture of a beautiful woman on the cover of my father’s Business Week: Mary Wells Laurence of Wells Rich Green. They were creating the best advertising at the time; Benson & Heges, American Motors, Alka Seltzer, etc. So I wrote her a love letter and got an airmail special delivery reply. She didn’t train juniors and advised me to stay in school. Then she me gave a piece of advice that I tell every creative person who wants to get into advertising -“When you see a bad ad, how would you make it better? Just think what you can do in every single way to improve it.” And I started noticing advertising around me and re-writing it. After college, I came to NYC with $300 and got a job as a mail clerk at Wells Rich Green. Three months later, I became a writer by submitting my work to writers at the agency who also taught at SVA and Parsons – but back then there were very few schools for advertising – and people actually had the time to mentor me.

You’ve worked in advertising for over 30 years. Can you give my readers some advice on how you’ve dealt with the ups and downs of the business?

It’s all about resilience. Realize you’re going to have setbacks and rejections as well as victories. Don’t ever give up. It sounds trite but it’s the truth. I have been fortunate to have a creative partner for over 20 years. We’ve formed a strong bond so we can balance and motivate each other to keep trying. We’re hard on each other, but always supportive. The great thing about advertising is that there’s always a new problem or situation. Because things change so quickly, usually bad situations pass. (And great situations can disappear overnight!) I’ve always worked with great people and always try to be honorable. We keep our promises and deadlines. We care very much. When you have that sense of professionalism, it reflects back on you and you get to work with people who are professional and honorable as well. People become more important than the situation.

Describe the most exciting, unique, crazy and interesting shoot you’ve been on aside from recording and directing Antonio Banderas on Nasonex.

Going to New Zealand for Flomax. We had to cast a line of 90 men with 15 principals and 9 of them had to speak on camera. The concept was a long line of men stepping forward in an airplane hanger to show that they’re not alone with their disease, not afraid to talk about that they were going to the bathroom all the time. We couldn’t find the right location in the USA so we had to choose between Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand. It turned out there was a brand new hanger in the Auckland airport built for the richest man in the country. It was beautiful and a perfect half circle. We cast in Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Wellington and Auckland trying to find people who could speak on camera in an American accent. It was a casting epic. The talent was great. When you go out of the country, it’s incredibly important surround yourself with people you can trust because there are always unexpected problems. You have to prepare for every possibility of what can go wrong – and then something happens that you couldn’t have imagined. You have to be flexible, but more importantly, you have to remember clearly what you want and stick to it when everyone is trying to compromise on money, talent, legal, etc. My partner and I also shot a memorable commercial for Puerto Vallerta tourism – but I can’t give that story away. We’re going to turn it into a movie. Let’s just say that we nicknamed the commercial director, who was mandated by certain officials, Juan More Tequila. Crew call was at 7AM. Crew showed up at 9. Tequila break was at 10:30. You can’t make this stuff up.

Well, I for one will never forget being on the set of a Duncan Hines commercial at 4 years old with chocolate chips raining from the ceiling. Maybe that’s why I chose a career in advertising. What other careers have you considered?

I was going to be a clinical psychologist – but I fell in love with advertising. After I came to New York, I was a volunteer for a suicide hotline and was trained in active listening. It’s been vital to my career.

Aside from getting a creative brief that includes a basic guideline of what you should create, you’re basically starting from a blank page. How do you start the creative process? Is there a certain time of day you find you’re more creative?

I work as part of a team and I tend to focus on all the details and see if they lead to something big. My partner (art director) focuses on the big picture and ignores the details and we just start talking. We talk about things that intrigue us, questions we have about the product, questions consumers might have. We try to fit into their shoes whether it’s a product or service. And we always start with the idea. What’s the end line? Key visual? The feeling that we want to leave people with? How can we be unique? Clever? Get people’s attention and persuade? The idea has to work everywhere - not just in television and print, but all executions in all media have to flow from it. I like getting up really early and hitting the computer instantly. It’s when my ideas aren’t affected by my rationality and come straight out of my brain without second thoughts or editing.

A lot has been said about how advertising has changed over the past 30 years with the inclusion of digital, social media, and other forms of advertising. What has stayed the same?

What has stayed the same is that there’s always a connection to humanity. There’s a connection to peoples’ likes and dislikes. And even though those likes and dislikes change over time, you’re always trying to connect to them and get an emotional response from people, from peoples’ humanity.

And finally, how do you feel about your daughter(s) following in your footsteps?

Well I think it’s an interesting career. Unfortunately, the whole model of making money has changed. The media has fragmented and the internet has reduced costs and therefore, fees. So, the question to ask is how we’ll all support ourselves in 5 years. On the other hand, advertising is always changing. That’s why it’s interesting. Every day is something different. There’s a new competitor, a new app, a new way to influence people. It’s constantly being on your toes. And I’ve learned about things that I never expected to learn about - everything from computers and phones to pharmaceuticals and peanut butter. I’ve become a more interesting person because of it and I spend time with some of the most delightful, engaging and intelligent people one can imagine.

Ponderings

In other news - my lease is up at the end of July. Not sure what my roommate and I are doing in terms of apartments. I'm applying to a 3 month program in San Francisco that doesn't start until October but I won't find out if I've gotten in until Mid-August. Options are - sign another lease with my roommate some place in the dreaded "Uptown." Find a cheap month to month sublet probably in Brooklyn or Downtown. Or.. eek. Live with my parents for 2 months. Part of me wants to live with them just so I can watch True Blood and Madmen right when it airs. Saw two back to back episodes of True Blood last night while in Schmersey and I'm hooked again...

Mermaid Parade Coney Island 2010

Saturday, I went to check out the Mermaid Parade for the first time, camera in hand, with a bunch of awesome girls. I definitely think it's something every New Yorker should experience at least once. Um.. just make sure you wear sunscreen. I didn't entirely get my back and some lady at Java Girl (my coffee shop) said "Miss - do you know your back is super red and there are finger prints where you tried to put on sunscreen." Um.. thanks.

 

Betacup Challenge Winners Announced

Betacup Challenge Winners Announced

Our regular readers will recall PSFK writing about the launch of the Betacup challenge. The competition, sponsored by Starbucks, was an effort to come up with solutions to reduce coffee paper cup consumption. Yesterday, Betacup announced the winning ideas that received cash prizes worth $20,000. We take a look at some of these innovative ideas.

Karma Cup: The winning idea of the Betacup challenge, conceptualized by Mira Holley, Nick Patridge, Gillian Langor, Mira Lynn, Zarla Ludin and Ruth Prentice, is not exactly an alternative cup but a promotional idea to encourage people to use reusable cups. Every customer with a reusable cup makes an X on a blackboard and every tenth person gets a free cup of coffee as an incentive to use reusable mugs. The idea also suggested adding washing stations for people to wash their own travel mugs and a system where Starbucks only serves coffee in reusable cups that it owns so customers can return the cup at their convenience at any Starbucks outlet.

Only In New York... Or Hollywood?

This evening, I was sitting outside the cafe across from my apartment in an empty chair surrounded by two older men (regulars). I had 15 minutes to kill before meeting a friend for dinner. A slightly younger man, probably in his late 40's, energetically greeted them and pronounced that he was just at the Tony's, proudly displaying his picture of Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet. He went on to tell them about various celebrity gatherings and I added that I heard Scarlett sang karaoke at the Cornerstone Tavern on 51st and 2nd avenue on Sunday. Eventually I couldn't resist and asked him how he managed to have all these celebrity filled adventures. He told me that he was the son of a famous iconic advertising character (will not mention who just in case he's legit) and that he has a charity that introduces him to all these people.

The next thing I knew, there were random drops of water coming from above the awning. The regular informed us a crazy man living above Java Girl, on the 6th floor of course, frequently poured water on the patrons because he was annoyed they were so loud. I told the crew about my crazy man who lived above me on the 6th floor and my flooding issue. Wow.. weird similarity. And then.. the next thing I knew.. there was smoke coming from two buildings away from the cafe. Total classic bystander phenomenom. About ten of us stood there wondering if someone should stop their conversation and call 911 but then realized the fire department was already on their way. Our focus came back to the conversation. Old Hollywood glamour guy who informed us that his book was about to get published and had the seal of approval from Oprah. So he was going to go from total obscurity to celebrity come the holidays and the book is named after a Rennaissance Italian artist. "Has he ever been to Florence?" I ask.. and so the conversation continues. Finally, it is time for me to go - to which he proclaims that "that's what these young girls do - you fall in love with them and then they leave."

End Scene. Just a typical day in New York City.

Urggggggg

So I was sitting in my apartment, minding my own business.. actually focused and getting work done.. when the police knock on my door. Long story short, apparently someone accused us (our apartment) of throwing Oscar out of the window because of the way he fell. So now I know officially that he squeezed out of a 2 inch open window in the living room - jumping on the windowsill that night even though he's never done that before. I know that however he fell, he somehow leaped. There's a cord hanging in front of that window. My guess is that he was chasing birds or something and somehow decided to squeeze himself under the window to latch on and attack the cord. It's been over a week and while I'll never "get over it" I was attempting to move in. Now I have a detailed visual of exactly what happened, am thinking about it when I shouldn't be.. and to sum it up - This sucks. Blah.. it's not reaaaallly time to get out of this apartment.

On the bright side - it's good to know that there are specific ASPCA police and that they take animal abuse very seriously. I'm sort of shaking right now..  Maybe time for an outdoor run?

PSFK Video on Account Planning

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn40fvPDWeE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=540&h=285]

So if you're not interested in advertising or Account Planning, this video probably isn't for you.. but for those of you who are, this is an informative video. I'm currently working on an application for an Account Planning program and am struck how every question somehow responds to their ideas of what makes a good account planner. Der. I guess that would make sense since account planning is all about gathering the right information and asking the right questions to lead the creative process. Or something like that. Yeah, so I tend to pick the job functions that can't be summed up at a cocktail party in one sentence. But I suppose it's a conversational piece.

In other news. I know that the idea of "Account Planning" began in London.. but why are all the people they interviewed British transplants? I think they need a little infusion of New Jersey blood. Hollar. Or NYC.. something like that.

Apple - iPhone 4 - This changes everything. Again.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHngLJ0RlNg&hl=en_US&fs=1&w=480&h=295]
What do you think? Will it change everything? Change the way we communicate? Eek. I want! Apple has done it again. In some ways, this seems more appealing than the iPad only because the iPad falls into such a weird in between category if you already have a small, lightweight laptop and aren't inclined to read on the subway. I honestly don't know why other companies (Google.. cough cough) bother to compete with Apple in SmartPhones. They're only going to get the hardcore, anti-establishment, non Apple, fans or... Google employees. And from what I've seen, they're just copying the same modern, sleek, minimalist aesthetic without putting their own spin on it. But either way, looks like Apple will always be one step ahead. Even if other Smartphones have better carriers, you can't compete with the brand loyalty and following of Apple. I'm sure it will only take a few years until we forget what it's like to talk with someone on the phone without actually seeing their video or image. Man.. think about that. That's huge. I guess the big question is whether or not our wireless networks can keep up with the flow of data. And so- I ponder.

Tête-à-Tête Tuesdays with Molly

Margaux Zion is a Social Media Consultant, specializing in interactive customer experience. She works with retailers in the Fashion, Cosmetics, and Home Products industries to make shopping as easy and FUN for people who don’t love shopping as much as she does.

When not glued to her Tweetdeck feed or Tumblr dashboard, she works as a makeup artist, painting some of fashion’s freshest faces. Follow her on Twitter @margauxz or catch the occasional blog update at margauxzion.tumblr.com for a little insight into the world of all things Margaux!

To introduce you to my readers - we met last year at my birthday party via a mutual friend but then didn't have a quality introduction until a few months ago. And it was all uphill from there.

Can you give me a brief introduction of what you do for MAC?

I am on the Online Product Team- a position that is synonymous with “mystical psychic wizard.” I use social media to assist customers with cosmetic product selection that they cannot touch or see in a physical store. I cannot see them, and they cannot see me, [hence] the mystical psychic wizardry. I worked as a freelance makeup artist and in a MAC retail store for years previous to this promotion- the product knowledge I’ve amassed in combination with my loquacious personality and savvy for social media was logical next step.

This is only what I do for MAC, though not at all what I do in my secret alter ego as a Social Media Consultant.

Talk to me about your background. You were a costumer for a Soap Opera. How in the world did that happen?

That was my wildcard career. When I was in college for Textile Science before I worked for MAC, I volunteered my services as a dresser at New York Fashion Week. My uncle, who is a Broadway Producer, caught wind, and decided I needed to be in the Theatrical Wardrobe Union. He literally walked me directly into the President’s office where I registered on the spot. The President, a well-poised, elegant woman, phoned the supervisor at the now defunct Guiding Light soap opera, and in her best showbiz voice:

“Heeeeeeey! I have a GREAT new girl here, MARGAUX! She is so ENTHUSIASTIC, and has a GREAT SMILE; you’ll just LOVE her! She just registered; she’d be GREAT for the show! I can’t talk now, but let’s do lunch! Bye babe!”

I went to work on the show the very next week, and the rest is history. This is where I decided I needed to embrace Social Media for my livelihood. I used to sit in hair and makeup in between shooting and sign the actors up on Twitter and made Facebook groups for our adventures making the television show. Then soap fans started to follow ME, and I knew I had something.

The show was very dear to me. We were cancelled last year, (ON APRIL FOOL’S DAY!) and I miss it very much. It was a privilege to work with such an outstanding group of people.

Switching gears here -what are your three favorite MAC products at the moment?

Three products I wear no matter WHAT the look, are Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, (Buffed with the #182 brush) Opulash Mascara, and Fast Response Eye Cream. I have over 1,500 individual MAC Cosmetics products in my “stock" so choosing color would be a very hard decision to make.

Over the last few weeks, we've attended a TON of techie networking events and I've noticed that you're the social media, networking, friend-making queen. When did you enter the Twittersphere? What are some tips for quality networking? And how do you keep track of all your contacts?

I just really like meeting new people. I’m a really talkative person and this reflects both in the real world, and online. Twitter is actually a very evolved form of social media for me- I used to regularly post and moderate on Ezboard communities and LiveJournals as early as 1999, and still keep in touch with friends I made then, today.

Quality networking doesn’t mean you have to reach the widest audience by talking to a million people. It means that you have to meet the right audience by talking to people who want to know more about what you already know a lot about. It's also helpful to be somewhat interesting, friendly, and approachable. This attracts people’s interest in your character, and lets them know that you’d be a super awesome/knowledgeable/hardworking member of the team. I naturally smile a lot both online and off- it's a lot like dating.

As for keeping track- I have Oompa Loompas. That was a joke. I have FIT interns. Also a joke. (I’D LOVE TO HAVE ONE, THOUGH!!!) I have a special cheat sheet and a little black book, nothing too fancy. I also have a bookmarks folder titled: “REALLY AWESOME WEBSITES” for all the new utilities I liked at NYTech Meetup, etc.

Interns... not a bad idea. Inquiring minds want to know - i.e. ME. While at the last Tech Meetup, I noticed that you often managed to add someone via Twitter, Tweet, and reference a presenters comments within the Tweet before they were finished talking. What Twitter program do you use? And how do you do this?

Haha! I did do that, didn’t I? As I said before, I am a very chatty person- tweeting instead of talking keeps me from interrupting people who are supposed to be talking!

I like Tweetdeck for personal use- it's a very easy dashboard to control my two Twitter accounts, Facebook profile, two Facebook Pages, and Foursquare account. (C’mon Tweetdeck! Integrate Tumblr and Wordpress next!) I also monitor updates with MAC related hashtags; MAC fans are pretty much really nice people, with a lot of artistic insight and brand enthusiasm. Social Media is exactly how to find conversations about things you really like and want to discuss with others.

For my professional clients, I am currently discovering Postling, a web-based social media management tool for brand management. It allows me to keep track of all my blog posts, tweets, status updates, comments, and all return correspondence. I met the Co-Founders through NY Tech Meetup and they are really smart guys with a great product.

You interact with people from all over the country. How do you think the soccer mom from the middle of Wisconsin will benefit from the technological revolution?

I think she has it better than us New Yorkers. Media consumes our space like none other. She can sit in her nice quiet SUV, waiting for the kids to come out of practice, and choose what types of media she wishes to take. She may use her shiny new tablet device to coordinate recipes and prepare dinner later in the evening, read her Cosmo mag in a digital reader, or order groceries from her local market to be assembled for pickup or delivery…. The possibilities are endless! I wouldn’t be surprised if a new wave of tech startups are designed and marketed as productivity apps by and for busy moms!

Hmm. I think you're on to something. Any developers out there DM me @missmolls. Tell me more about using technology and social media in retail. How do you think our retail experience will evolve over the next few years?

I think that phase one is over now and that most companies integrated e-commerce in the late 90’s. Many e-tailers now provide Live Chat services- a great service for shoppers who cannot experience products using their 5 senses and must rely on an expert.

With the explosion of social media, the virtual shopping experience is going to be huge; filled with rich content, more useful, personalized services. Even advertising will be smarter and less annoying because it will be properly targeted and more interactive in nature. I don’t want to reveal too much, because building the e-commerce experience is one of my current projects. My specialty is landscaping the customer experience for virtual retailers. There is so much work to be done, but most retailers understand that this dynamic shopping experience is essential to keeping loyal customers.

As far as physical stores and retail events are concerned, Diesel had an amazing promotion a few weeks ago, inviting traffic into the store with a free t-shirt for the first X number of foursquare checkins. Heavy store traffic is what makes a store seem cooler so this was a brilliant idea. Also, aside from the brands that users may follow on Twitter or Foursquare for great tips and shopping guides, there are great networking apps like FoodSpotting and Fareshare. There are even apps for retailers to use geo-tagging apps to drive customers into stores.

And finally, dream big. What's your next upcoming project?

Ah! I can’t talk about it! I’m always working on my dreams, I’ll be sure to let you know when they come true.

Internet Week New York - Yahoo Provoke Summit

It's been a week and I finally have time to give a recap of some of the highlights of Internet Week New York. On Monday, I attended the Yahoo Provoke Summit with an introduction by Ze Frank. I'm not entirely sure how to describe Ze other than genius, cultural anthropologist, thinker and web pioneer. Okay, that will do. In his 45 minute riveting talk he successfully connected a few lines of Corinthians 13:1-13 "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me" to how the biggest challenge for advertisers is to create meaningful connections between people. How did he do it? I have no idea but I will relay some of the ideas he spoke about. Puer Aeternus = the eternal child. In the land of Facebook, games like Farmville and FourSquare, have we entered a state of puer aeternus? What exactly is "work?" Ze argues that work is that attempt at creating an authentic, emotional connection with our peers and future peers. The Modern Day Pirates summed up Ze's point that in his "view, advertisers should not restrict their visions, but rather should present them to the internet and engage their target audience.  If the product is worth marketing, it will find its supporters, and they will rally around it in a way that money cannot buy."

After Ze's presentation, Nick Parish from Contagious Magazine led a panel discussion with Bre Pettis from MakerBot, Matt Szymczyk from Zugara and Seth Goldstein from Stickybits. Check back with Modern Day Pirates for company descriptions. Bre had some thought provoking comments and told me later that he should have started a fist fight among the panel to entertain the audience - but really, he was interesting enough. He thinks that IP (Intellectual Property) is dead and that everything will be open source. Digest this one for a bit. Imagine you run a small non-profit in Africa and you need an online donation infastructure. 5 minutes later, you're up and running - no cost to the organization. Now think about pharmaceuticals, education, architecture.. He also believes, coming from working in the American school system as a teacher, that education is dead. In keeping with the sharing of knowledge, he believes that the education of the future will be through sharing over the web. So maybe he's trying to get on the TED speaker radar... but he definitely has a good point. 

And finally, Iain Tait, Global Interactive Executive Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy discussed how to evolve an advertising organization to better facilitate this type of higher level, thought provoking creativity. As I'm sure we've all read before - the most successful organizations are the ones that encourage the "best stuff" to win. It's no longer about "the man" pushing his ideas onto us in the marketplace and the same should hold true for an ad agency. The successful ad agency should have hungry, ambitious, evolved and creative people that are dedicated to working and winning as a team. Creating integrated and innovative campaigns is not about ego or ownership but about sharing and the collective win.

Wow.. I see a theme here. Collective. Human, emotional connection. Sharing. In 2006, Time Magazine voted "You" as the "Person of the Year." It seems that in 2010, this concept of individuality has evolved to recognizing the importance of all of us and not just thinking about our own needs, but the needs of the collective.

How To Make Your Personal Brand Visible With Social Media

Re-Blogged from Jeff Bullas's Blog

PDRTJS_settings_649365_post_5608 = { "id" : "649365", "unique_id" : "wp-post-5608", "title" : "How+To+Make+Your+Personal+Brand+Visible+With+Social+Media", "item_id" : "_post_5608", "permalink" : "http%3A%2F%2Fjeffbullas.com%2F2010%2F06%2F09%2Fhow-to-make-your-personal-brand-visible-with-social-media%2F" }Personal branding is a relatively new concept and is thought to have emerged in 1997 after a ground breaking article was published on the Fast Company website by Tom Peters.
We are in the age of the ‘knowledge worker‘ and the days of being an anonymous cog in the wheel of a faceless corporation are fast disappearing. The opportunity to stand out as a personal brand without having to know a politician, grey and grizzled powerbrokers or gnarly gatekeepers is now a reality and it is possible to accelerate the time it takes to make it happen.
Firstly what are the key elements and the questions that we need to consider to become a visible and effective personal brand.
1. What makes you different?
What is it that makes my product or service does, that makes it different? The challenge is to state that in 15 words or less and it needs to light up the eyes of a prospective client.
Here some questions to ask and honestly answer to help you with this task.

• What makes you distinctive from your competitors?
• What have you done lately.. this week.. last month to stand out?
• What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your most noteworthy personal trait?
• Just like a corporate brand what features do I offer that yields an identifiable and distinguished benefit for my client or customer. An example is how some companies pride themselves on offering lavish personal service, complete your projects on budget
• What do I do that adds remarkable measured distinguished distinctive value?
• What do I do that that I am most proud of or I unabashedly brag about or shamelessly take credit for?

Finally you need to ask a rather brash question ‘What do I want to be famous for? This questions are to get you focussed on what you as a personal brand are about…once you have that clear then you take the nest step.
2. How Do you Market ‘You’ the Brand
Ten or Twenty years ago it was a much more difficult proposition and it could have involved a range of offline networking opportunities such as.

• Signing up for an extra project inside your organisation to to showcase your skills or develop new ones that grew your personal brand.
• Freelancing to a new group of  people that could spread the word about how remarkable you are.
• Teach class at a local community
• Contribute to a column in your local newspaper
• Write an article for the company newsletter
• Make yourself available for a panel discussion in your industry
• Put yourself forward for a presentation in your area of expertise whether that be within your company or an external association

You need to remember that with this personal visbility campaign is that it ‘all’ matters. Everything you do communicates the value and character of your brand. This about not just about substance but style.
In 2010 you have at your fingertips the tools and social media platforms to leverage yourself into high personal brand visbility at digital nanosecond speed and here are some of the social networking channels that are most important to help you achieve that. You don’t need to be on all of these but choose the ones you ae most comfortable with but the more you are on the easier it is to get found.
What is important to remember is that it is now a digital web world so if you are not on the web you are fast becoming invisible. So here are the core channels for promoting brand ‘You’.
1. Blog or Website with a domain name that is either your own name or a ‘Brandable’  version of it
This is your personal  homebase that becomes your personal brands portal. It could be a website or a blog but my personal preference is for a blog as it seems more personal and authentic as it allows interaction with your readers and visitors to the site that a website doesn’t provide. If you are not comfortable with your personal name being so visible.. and some people are not comfortable with that, another option is to get a vanity URL that encapsulates  what you are about. eg Personalbrandingblog.com (Dan Schwabel)
2. LinkedIn
This is essential but here are a few elements that are crucial

• Make your profile public
• Ensure that youset up your other online web channels on your profile such as your blog, Facebook and your company’s site ( you are allowed three on LinkedIn)
• Set up your Twitter account feeding into the account page as well as your blog feed. These are all visible and easily set up on your LinkedIn homepage profile

From there you can start participating on LinkedIn in Groups and the Question & Answer features. That will get you started. You need to keep in mind the importance of this channel as the demographic includes an average  salary of LinkedIn member is $130,000 plus and currently there are 60 million members globally.
3. Facebook
This social media platform cannot be ignored with nearly half a billion members and has become the ‘elephant in the room’ or the ’800 pound gorilla’ of social media. There are  privacy challenges but it can be used to engage with people and increase your visibility and make you real. One way to look at Facebook is that it is more like a barbeque where you turn up in Jeans and a t-shirt, whereas  LinkedIn is the company cocktail party
4. YouTube
As the newer generation are much more video centric and would rather watch a 5 minute online video than read a page of text this a social media channel that I would recommend you start becoming familiar with. It is great site for uploading your videos that have recorded your speaking events or your panel sessions. If people are looking for speakers and you have an easily found and distributed recording of your presentations then you are much more likely to be hired for a gig.
The other benefit of YouTube is that it much easier to rank high and be found online in YouTube with a video search than Google. You also need to keep in mind that it is the second largest serach engine after Google.
5. Twitter
Register your name ‘NOW’ .. if it is still available!! Twitter is not about ‘I am having a coffee with Bill’ but it is one of the most effective platforms the world has ever to distribute content (blogs, videos, presentations, music and images) and promote a brand whether that be corporate or personal.
These are just the basics on the channels and how you should be using them for your personal brand, optimising your social media platforms to get your personal brand highly visible requires constant fine tuning and tweaking.
What have you done to promote “Your” brand?

I Guess I Sort of Love New York Again

I wanted to thank everyone again for their kind words and support. Yesterday was ROUGH but I'm lucky that I live close enough to my family that I was able to spend time with them. Oscar is now resting next to my childhood cats in my parent's backyard. I still miss him and think about him but know it will take time to move on. I'm glad I'm leaving this apartment soon. Thomas is sitting on my lap as I write this, more loving and cuddly than ever. I hope he's okay. Oscar pretty much annoyed the crap out of him for the most part but I'm sure he loved him anyway just like I did.

I'm not religious but the pastor of the church I attend twice a year is extremely interesting, insightful and intelligent so I was thinking of stopping by his office to discuss my thoughts over the last few days. As I was exiting the subway at 53rd and Lex, I ran into him. We talked about Oscar and loss.. and forgiveness. And I asked him if in his experience speaking with people who are going through hardships - if he thought everything happens for a reason. His response was that he doesn't think that's the case but that we can learn from our experiences no matter what. So I guess I've learned that you can never be too careful, that my friends, family and community will be there for me when things go seriously sour and.. I learned what it's like to experience loss and get through it. My pastor said that in his 61 years on this earth, he feels that our current time has been the hardest in history - economically, politically and environmentally and that it's okay to feel down but that we'll get through it. I guess it was upsetting to hear that but I also felt relieved with the knowledge that things have to get better in the world.. and that perhaps I will only experience this time of overall suckiness once in my lifetime.

On a lighter note - updates and re-caps of Internet Week New York to come soon. But I just wanted to get back to my old - funny - lighthearted self for one moment and share the first "I Love NY moment" I've had since I've been back from Colorado. While walking from the F train to the L train at 14th street, two young guys serenaded me with Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" for a whole block under ground. It was ridiculous and embarrassing but how can I not let a flattering, funny situation like that make my day? 

Total Tragedy

So last night, I got a text from my roommate at 11pm saying that she couldn't find Oscar, my 4 month old, adorable, crazy, energetic, kitten. She even took out the broom and swept knowing that he couldn't resist attacking it. I ran home from the NY Tech Meet Up after party and we searched our apartment inside out. He has never in his life hidden from anything. We searched the building. I went over in my memory the moment I left the apartment earlier that day, wondering if he somehow ran out. We checked the building, the roof, and I checked outside the building, fearful I'd see his body. Then finally left a note on the front door of my building with my contact information.

I didn't sleep at all. At 8am, a neighbor called saying that when he came home from work yesterday around 6pm, there were a group of people surrounding an orange tabby that had apparently fallen out of the window and was taken to the animal hospital directly across the street from my apartment. I called the hospital right away and the receptionist told me the vet would call back, which I knew was a very bad sign. I've seen enough ER/ Law & Order episodes to know that if a doctor is calling you back, it's not good. The vet said he had a few broken bones and his face was very damaged. He was in pain so they decided it was best to put him to sleep. He would have had to have had countless surgeries and at the time, they didn't even know who his owner was. I completely support his decision but was devastated that I couldn't say goodbye. They advised me not to see him in his current state. So I am left with the memories of the short time I had him. I truly hope that he didn't suffer too much but I know that he did. I was able to speak with the woman who stayed by his side, found him and got the vet who said Oscar tried to get up from his injuries. This doesn't surprise me at all because he was a crazy, determined fighter. She said he was surrounded by people who cared for him and from what I gather, loving people - when he was put to sleep. The whole situation seems like a bad dream that I can't wake up from.

I'm left with one of my fondest and most recent memory of him nuzzling himself next to me Monday night as I went to bed - cheek to cheek. A gesture he rarely did and especially hadn't done in the few weeks that it's been hot. Thomas came up on my bed as well, laid next to me and Oscar plopped himself next to Thomas so that for a brief moment, the three of us lay cuddled, side by side. May he rest in peace- in kitty heaven where he can eat all the food he wants, have an endless source of amusement, a long, wooden hallway to dart back and forth at and may my childhood cats Pippin, China, Cappy, Piano, Binky and Hilarious lick him with love.