advergirl

Readers: Refill my RSS bin and blogroll

The feeds in my news reader have gotten stale. Many are defunct. Others are voices I've heard from forever. Still others just aren't relevant to me anymore. I need fresh perspectives. New inspiration.

So, I'm pulling out a few favorites and chucking the rest.

Send me your recommendations to rebuild.

I'm particularly looking for content on branding, experience and great work. But, if it's a good industry blog, I'm not worried about the category.

I'll publish the survivors and newbies on a (long-missing) blogroll in two weeks.

Thanks for your participation in my participation.

Comment below
Email to lhouseholder gmail
Find me on twitter @leighhouse

Entrepreneur loose in a collaborative environment – part 1

OR how I’m driving my co-workers crazy today

Turns out – I can’t brainstorm.

But, happily, I am over “the yips.”

I grew up in pretty entrepreneurial roles. Jumping in, figuring things out, coming up with a straight-forward point-of-view, convincing a client to act.

String a few of these roles together and you start to see a career of smart fiddling taking shape. One that rewards the Three Attributes of a Marketing Handyman:

And, one that got me into a number of habits. A way of working that let the good stuff rise to the top and kept me motivated to keep discovering.

That way of work was part of why I created this blog. So that when I heard a problem or a challenge, I could leverage the stories I'd collected and whatever else I could dig up to create a few ideas or scribbles on the back of a napkin. My collected scraps and non-sequitar notepads would eventually (like the ding of an Easy Bake oven) come together into an actual solution. One that I could quickly build a framework around and take to a client or a creative team.

For years, I was the boss' favorite thing not to have to worry about. Give her the resources and check in when projections are due.

Enter Ologie. My latest gig. An agency that works in a completely different way. One that rewards collaboration and conversation.

Of course I assumed I could do this. After being out there without a net for long enough, wouldn't anyone like to be in a room of like minds co-creating ideas and solutions. Yes, but...

Eeeerrrck. My brain doesn't work that way anymore. Thrown into a room of people brainstorming on a topic I hadn't worked on before, my fingers just itch for the keyboard. How can I bake something on the spot without the time and space to collect the ingredients and form a little dough?

Ah. Brain freeze of a whole 'nother kind.

So, here I go evolving again. Knowing that if I get good at this, I'll definitely forget part of that last evolution - and, it's scary to think about that. What would it mean not to be able to bootstrap a little marketing now and then? And have the confidence that I came to the right answer on my own.

Til then. Better work through collaboration.

And, while I'm working on that, maybe I can kick a few of these other entreprenuerial artifacts that make my teeth clench:

Accepting criticism from people much farther away from the problem. Pesky.
Sharing food. Ew.
Living in open work environments. Distracting.

More on "the yips" tomorrow...

Until then, I'm off to co-create and hope to be wiser for it.

Creative Class: Come to Columbus, OH

If I were to guess what the two biggest drivers of immigration to Columbus are, I'd say:

Love
And, longing

Love of a boy or girl who you must be near. Or longing for the kind of place you experienced briefly once --€“ maybe you went to school here or had family here or even grew up here and later moved away.

I was wandering around Barnes and Noble this weekend, kind of spinning my wheels waiting for adver-boyfriend to sate his periodicals addiction when I came across Who'€™s Your City by Richard Florida.

He kicks off with the assertion that where we live is the most important decision we make in life:

Finding the right place is as important as - €”if not more important than -€” finding the right job or partner because it not only influences those choices but also determines how easy or hard it will be to correct mistakes made along the way. ...The place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. It can determine the income we earn, the people we meet, the friends we make, the partners we choose, and the options available to our children and families. People are not equally happy everywhere...

Florida's aim is largely to defend the importance of a sense of place vs. the encroaching genericism of globalization. Where you live does matter and is part of who you are.

It took me back to the very logical approach I took to relocating from Chicago to --€“ it turns out  -- Columbus. Books with city ratings were purchased. Web sites were bookmarked. Conversations with employers were had. And, none of it even got close to telling me how happy I'd be here.

Florida has a list of his own. The top cities by various lifestage criteria.

Columbus doesn't make his list. (Although it made a ton of others).

So, in the spirit of our conversation economy, I'm bringing my message here by answering the key questions that Florida posed:

1. How do you like the place you'€™re living now?
   
   I love living here. Surrounded by smart creative people, great neighborhoods and a really progressive culture.
   
   Columbus is one of those places that draws you to it. It'€™s got the personality of that one guy who everyone likes -- who is kind of a mellow cool, is ok with just about any kind of person or lifestyle, and is comfortable having a beer on the patio or out at a gourmet dinner (well, as long as he can wear jeans with his jacket).


2. Is it somewhere you really want to be?
   
   Yes, I could live anywhere. And, have lived in Chicago, Pittsburgh and small-town Appalachia. I actively choose to live here.


3. Does it give you energy? When you walk out onto the street, €”or the country lane, in the morning, does it fill you with inspiration, or stress?
   
   It absolutely gives me energy. And, when I'm out walking the dogs on the cobblestoned streets of my historic neighborhood or shopping in the sophisticated Short North, I'm almost guaranteed to be smiling.


4. Does it allow you to be the person you really want to be? Are you achieving your personal goals?
   
   I feel like I can achieve all my personal goals here --€“ the affordable cost of living and healthy economy are an ideal foundation for a professional life. And, the generally accepting vibe makes any lifestyle comfortable.


5. Is it a place you would recommend to your relatives and friends?
   
   I'€™ve been trying to get my sister to move here for years.

Short story: Columbus is the best place for me. And, for the creative class. They just don't all know it yet.

Check us out for Volume 2, Richard.

Step into the Spotlight: Tsufit is Sark for Suits

What I love about business books is the anecdotes. The collections of a gratis illustrations from women who’ve been running the room for 20 years. The totally repeatable, wow I didn’t know that’s how they came up with that ideas. The insiders guides to the coolest trivia your industry has to offer.

Good business books are - quite simply - repeatable. And, particularly if you're new(er) to your career, can help you learn how to speak the shared language of industry and cultural metaphor.

So, I’ve enjoyed flipping through Tsufit's new book: Step into the Spotlight. It’s not exactly the kind of book you would sit down and read cover-to-cover, but more one that you keep handy for right after a painful conference call or one of those incredibly long networking events that seem to stretch as long as an average week. A quick flip will lead you to a little perspective, a fun anecdote or an exercise in figuring out, well, you.

And, all written in the chatty, playful voice of a woman who divides her career among executive coaching, book writing and stand-up comedy.

It’s incredibly reminiscent of what Sark did for everyday creativity. Her scribbly journals and stream-of-consciousness creative guides at once elevate playfulness and introspection, seeking to loose a little wild creativity.

Tsufit may be a bit more buttoned up, but you can quickly see that her message isn’t the words on the page, it’s what she wants to inspire in her reader. A little confident, sassy business savvy that feels like you found it yourself.

Investing in the agency brand: SCPF’s “Solutions for the Modern American Life”

I get a lot of emails about agency self promotions. Curious forays into what creative minds can do when unencumbered by practical concerns, like, for example, selling variable annuities or wedding registries.

And, I get a veritable slew of emails (and the occasional ominous paper wrapped mailing cylinder on my porch) from PR agencies working to build buzz about their client’s product or book or thing-a-ma-do.

But this was the first time I got an email from a  PR agency about an agency’s self promotion. Obviously, I had to investigate:

The site is called “Solutions for the Modern American Life”, which they describe as “a collection of high and low tech products, methods and techniques that will help America.” It’s a retro little throwback to the days when the recipes on the back of the Jello box were serious culinary stuff and agency self-promotions were a little more … well, like an episode of Mad Men.

And, I don’t think I’m going too far to say – it’s kinda out there.

So, I tracked down Gonzalo Marti, SCPF’s Creative Director out of Miami to get the back story on the development, inspiration and promotion investment:

Advergirl: Why did your agency decide to invest in a multimedia self promotion?

Gonzalo: In 2005, - closing in on SCPF’s tenth anniversary – the agency made the decision to leap across the ocean into the U.S. market. Since then, we’ve felt the need to explain the ‘newcomer’s’ point of view about the United States and the “American way of life” from a more Spanish and European perspective.

Advergirl: Where did the creative idea / concept come from? What was the inspiration?

Gonzalo: We wanted to develop a campaign that would speak creative volumes about our agency, our culture and our traditions to the business and creative community here in the U.S. We didn’t want it to seem too self-promotional but reflect how we do business and how we can help bring a different and certainly, fresh perspective to a campaign. 

Advergirl: What are your goals for the site?

Gonzalo: With our first ‘house’ ad campaign, we wanted to continue raising the agency’s profile in this market and to position ourselves as a key creative partner to our clients. We will continue to challenge the mainstream and bring new ideas to the table.

Advergirl: We’ve all worked in an agency where the big idea for self promotion hit some bumps along the way. I’m thinking of a certain agency holiday card that everyone was supposed to sing a carol for … except somehow the executives all had an identical whistle in the final rollout. Did you run into any internal challenges / objections during development?

Gonzalo: No, everybody was enthusiastic about this project and promoting SCPF. We believe strongly in the power of the creative product - that’s what SCPF has always been about.

Advergirl: [Oh, come on. Really???]

Advergirl: Thanks, Gonzalo

Those of you struggling with your own agency Web site design might want to check out SCPF’s temporary -> lasting solution
 

Favorite new multimedia sites

With every new location comes a new pipe to deal with... and this one is... slim. Checking out Flash sites lately has been a little circa-1997-56k-modem-enter-a-URL-and-go-make-dinner-while-it-loads. Nonetheless there have been a few delightful ones this month that were absolutely worth the wait:

Best B2B
Motorola City's show-and-tell of their commitment to public safety. Wait, stop yawning at the title, this site is slick:

Best I-don't-even-begin-to-get-it but somehow admire what you're doing:
Modernista's site relaunch that basically leverages DHTML and some open sourceness to dynamically assemble content from around the Web. I think the point is: we fundamentally get how the Web works in ways that other agency's don't. I think the visual experience is, in a word: painful.

 

Best basic landing page:
Haagen Dazs Help the Honeybees issue site. For its beautiful illustration and actually worthwhile soundtrack.

Best for kids:
Nintendo's Professor Layton and the Curious Village game promotional page. It brings the game to life and (at least seems) very fun and interactive for kids.