[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYy_3786bo?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

19. Why does this Facebook generated campaign work and others don’t?

You cannot just hand someone a product or a service that you think is really cool and expect it to grow like wildfire. If you do, you already made the first mistake. A lot of companies think that if they create a twitter, Facebook, or some sort of online presence that all the users will just automatically flock to them. Businesses that flourish in the social media world are doing more than just putting their product in cyber space for all to see, they are executing it in such a way that makes the public turn, watch, and tune in.

The reason why I believe this campaign for IKEA worked well with Facebook is because they are the ones who made the first move towards user interaction. Most ads that I see on Facebook are pretty boring and mundane so it takes a special thing to make me want to click on the link. In the case of IKEA, they created a profile that was personal and then used the photos from there to generate more frequency. The users that were on the IKEA page a lot of the  time then went out to spread it to their friends and family. If you have not found this out by now, people are more likely to listen to you, buy things, and trust you if they are close to you or believe you are coming from good intentions.

That is why this campaign worked, because Ikea gained trust and then let the people take over.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

18. Part of the Privileged People

Being a photographer for the Lundquist College of Business Undergrad CEO Network has made me one the most privileged people here at the University of Oregon.

In my years here at the U of O I have come to realize that some of the most important people -in my eyes - that I have met are the ones who I at first thought were the least important. Keep in mind that I am in the Advertising program but I work for the Business program. Even though they each lie on two different levels, I can say that I have learned just as much from the Business side as I have from the Ad side. With all the events that I have worked at I find myself making connections with financial advisers/planners, accountants, auditors, financial analysts, etc on such a deeper level than expected. Being differently oriented in our careers forces me to make mental venn digrams and find out what we all have in common. As for the things we do not, I can still learn from them. Just because they are different does not mean I should end all contact right after our first conversation.

Today, I shot for the Portland Leadership Experience where the students of the CEO Network participated in a site visits to many companies. We traveled to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Rubicon International, and amongst a few others the, Multnomah Athletic Club.

While taking pictures, I found myself bumping elbows with some of the most interesting people. However, it was one man that really stuck out to me the most. His name is Lou Radja.  Maybe it was the fact that he is an international speaker or maybe he has the power to see into people’s minds and is able to tell them what they really need to hear based on that, who knows?  He said:

 Remember your “why” - Why are you doing what you are currently doing in life? After you have gotten and understood that, do not forget it. That WHY will be there to comfort you when nothing else does, when the bills are becoming too much, or when you simply want to call in sick that day.

Commit to the work before the work. Do not just say I will prepare when I get there, NO! Prepare now. He compared it to that of the Olympics, Hundreds of athletes arrive at the location at least a month beforehand but that is not the first time they are practicing. Yes, you might get away with reviewing minutes before a test but try that at work and see how long they keep ya around.

Going off of that point, the real world does not start after college. THIS is real life. You are making the choices that will indeed impact tomorrow. The choices you make now are the same you will make later. It’s not as though your mind will all of a sudden morph into professional and responsible mode once you toss your cap and tassel into the air.

Doing the required makes you replaceable. Anyone else can do what is expected, what can you do that is different, that is more?

Chase passion before pension - Money tends to hide from those who search for it. Have fun, love your work and money will come soon enough.

Patients go to the doctor, the doctor does not go to the patient. In this world, if you want something you gotta go declare it and grab it. No one is going to take time out of their day to try and read your mind on what you want and then give it to you. See a job, go ask for it. They’re not hiring, say you’ll volunteer. They have a full staff, tell them you’ll just watch.

When you take the elevator to the top always remember to send it back down for someone else. Never ever keep the elevator to yourself because 1. You don’t need it once you’re up there  2. 100% without a doubt, if every person before you did that, you would still be in the basement.

—————

Not many people can do what they love and learn about life at the same time. Even those who are blessed with that do not give way to the possibility of opening your eyes to the new. I love my job and I am definitely sad to leave in a few weeks but excited for all the open doors it has given me the chance to walk through.

17. Forget March Madness this is May Maelstrom

mael·strom/ˈmālˌsträm/

Noun:

  1. A powerful whirlpool in the sea or a river.
  2. A scene or state of confused and violent movement or upheaval.

 Dione von Furstenburg once said, “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do but I knew the woman I wanted to become.”  All my life I wanted to be this or that but I never could pin point the exact career path I wanted to walk down. It was not until I chatted with my professor, Deb Morrison that I realized… I still don’t know what exactly I want to do. Most would call that a failure but from my point of view, I see it as a breaking ground. Now that I have cleared the table and moved back to square one, I can have somewhat of a fresh start.

I bet you’re still wondering why I call it May Maelstrom, huh? Even though I have gained a somewhat clearer picture I still have all these things, ideas, and questions buzzing around in my head. I am still a little confused about  this whole state that I am in. HOWEVER, not to fret because I made a list. It consists of all the things that I want(ed) to be.

(Don’t worry, I’ll post a visual  here so y’all can see what I mean).

I then made a venn diagram (which will also be posted) of all the things these careers and jobs have in common. From there, I am now broadening my scope of jobs and finding more jobs that suit those commonalities.  This is probably get real messy and chaotic. Again, hence the name May Maelstrom. In essence, I am creating my own draft pick of careers that I could see myself working at.  I will find people that work in those positions, basically stalk their online portfolios, biographies, social networks and find out how they got to where they’re at. Hopefully, by the end of all this I will have narrowed it down to an actual tangible career instead of saying I want to be blah blah blah.

Here goes nothing something. Close your eyes, cross your fingers,  and pray to God this all works out.

16. Building Britches

To   Jonathan Weiss , Gabriella Navarez , Matt Sanders , and Leah -whose name I apologetically cannot recall so please forgive me. To all four of you I say thank you. Thank you for not getting to big for your britches. Thank you for helping me fit into mine. Thank you for words that surely did not fall onto deaf ears. Thank you for hope.

I’m sure as you can tell from previous posts on this blog I am on the journey to finding my dream position. It has been a hard and daunting trail but it is because of people like Jonathan, Gabi, Matt and Leah that trotting along has not been as difficult as I had imagined. 

 All four of them and 50+ others recently traveled with a few professors to New York for an agency tour with some of the biggest ad companies out there. W+K NY, McGarryBowen, and Huge just to name a few. While they could have soaked up all they could and then came back to Oregon without anything to share, they did just the opposite. This career field is a competitive one so it would have been understandable if they did not divulge any information but like Matt said, "Drop the competitive. We can be on a team and do everything together."  The fact that they were willing to take time out of their day to relive the moments that I and many others weren’t there for, I find that one of the greatest things anybody could ever do for someone.

So with that said, I now pass on the most prominent points I got from them.

It’s all about intrinsic motivation. Nobody is gonna tell you to do it, you just have to. - Jonathan

Stay around people you admire. It will keep you… sane. - Gabi

It’s about making the commitment to stay after hours. // There is an eagerness to be a part of cool sh*t. // I know I’m good at everything but what am I really great at. I shouldn’t be ashamed of that. // You just gotta get in where you fit in. - Matt  (I think I soaked up the most from him because I felt like we had the most in common with our “uncommon” way of thinking.)

Have outside interests. Make pie! - Leah.

Also, a big shout out to ALL the companies that hosted the #UONYC . I know I was not there to share and partake in the glory that was the Big Apple but seriously, I love when people who have been helped out never forget to turn around and do the same.

[vimeo 8766811 w=500 h=281]

15. There are a multitude of things flowing through my head right now that would be hard to put onto paper. If I ever tried, you wouldn’t get them sooner but actually later. So instead of writing them down, I instead decided to look around. Find some more people that think like me and let them show you what we both see. Here is a video on the process of being creative, I couldn’t conjure up a word that rhymes with creative so just watch the friggin’ video.

14. YES! How wonderful is it to hear that we can finally be accepted for who we are and forgo all the things we are not. Over the last couple of months I have actually been questioning who I was because I sincerely thought there was something wrong with me. I found myself enjoying a quiet night in more than venturing off to all the parties occurring around campus. I love sitting by myself and simply watching people, and I especially find myself talking a lot less than I did in the beginning of my college career.

It was not until I watched this episode of Ted Talks did I realize that all these new actions are not the side affects of being abnormal but the actual opposite. It’s  okay to want to be alone and to not go to functions simply because everyone else is attending, and no matter how many times your friend calls you a loser for it, IT IS OKAY to sit down in the amphitheater in the middle of campus and enjoy your own company. However, in this new positive revelation there I found a downside. If I, for so long thought that there was something off about my personality, how many others have also thought the same about themselves? And how much of those people have not come to the realization that it’s alright to be who you really want to be?

During these last few months of discovery I have also had the pleasure of talking with a few people that - some may be introverts or extroverts - think the same way I do. I have had conversations with ethnic study students, accounting students, advertising students, a guy who drives his church’s van to pick people up, a young man who recently started his own production company and all the way to a journalist turned financial life adviser and they all basically say the same thing: No matter what the world tells you, it’s okay to be who you are. To me society is the one that has it all wrong - not to say that being an extravert is bad but that it’s okay to be reserved too. Not everyone thinks best in groups or enjoys being in a public setting. Like  Susan Cain said, maybe we introverts generate our best thoughts, ideas, creations, and personalities while we are alone. Who is anyone else to tell us otherwise?

Which brings me to another point. From birth we are exposed to a world that says do what you want as long as it’s something that will generate money. The first parts of a school to get cut are the arts and music programs while math and reading are left in their safe corners. What else is a child to think if the one thing he or she is good at is  stripped away and they are pushed to participate in something that brings no joy? It is then when we get to college, any notion of a dream we once had is so far mutilated that we are forced to believe that journalism is dead, painting will land you a spot underneath the bridge and  sociology will turn you into a tree-hugging nut! Sadly enough, majority of the people think that all the “successful” jobs are ones that deal in business, medicine, and law. However, I have seen and heard about far too many people that end up in that corner office on the 55th floor only to find out they regret all the steps that got them there. Again, I am not saying that the this certain status quo is at fault but I just want to the world to know white collar jobs are in no way the only road that leads to the right. If you love driving taxi cabs, go for it; if you like to play the harmonica, find a band that’s missing a member; wanna make sculptures out of recyclables? do it!**

Stop categorizing life as risks vs safety -it will get you nowhere. Think of it as what will ultimately fulfill your passion vs what won’t.

** Following your dreams won’t be easy or medium, it will be hard. Don’t give up on them.

(Source: http://video.ted.com/)

13. He Can Only Kill You If You’re Okay - This ad really resonated with me because I know how much my parents care about me. Because I know all to well how it is to lose someone to a car accident. Because I know what it looks like to see a parent’s face when they realize their child didn’t make it.

Although the main characters in this commercial are teenagers this as was clearly aimed at the portion of car owners who are parents. At first it just seems like some young driver crashed his dad’s car due to his stupidity or recklessness but that’s besides the point. The fact is that despite all that, he is still alive to feel the emotion of regret. Even though I do not have any children, I know that if I did this ad would have definitely secured my trust in Volkswagen. Without actually saying so, at the end of the day it is not the car that matters but the well-being of your child and I really believe that VW got the point across.

In all of the VW ads I have seen over the years I never remember them forcing their product down my throat. The only thing that ever stays with me is how I felt, which was either safe, happy, or grateful, and the brand of the car. That is why I believe VW is one of the most profitable companies out there. It’s about the human experience and not the company’s.

Well done Volkswagen. Well done.

11.

"Facebook" and "private" should never used be in the same sentence unless the words "is not" are between the two.

In this day and age it is virtually impossible to have any form of privacy on the internet. Whether your profile is set to Friends Only or Totally Private there is no such thing as either. Ever since this social network became a household name there have been all types of warnings that say: Make your profile private, don’t befriend people you don’t know, don’t place your real name online, etc. However, rarely is advice ever given about not posting any type of revealing information. The internet is a public forum where anyone can obtain any of the information you put out.

I recently Googled my own name and found multiple sites, facts, and information about myself that I did not even know existed in cyber space. As a young professional who is about to graduate college I know that my future employers will do the same and type my name into a search bar to find some sort of information. With that said, the only things I post are only the things I don’t mind people knowing. The only things my friends and I message each other are things I would not mind if my worst enemy found out. If the need arises for me to talk about something too personal, there are these wonderful little things called telephones. They were made in the 1870s and they work wonders for growing your friendships as well as business relationships -  that’s only if you actually use them for more than just texting.

The online world may be the first impression you get to make. It may be your only chance to prove yourself worthy of the position you are applying for. Make it count.

11.

"Facebook" and "private" should never used be in the same sentence unless the words "is not" are between the two.

In this day and age it is virtually impossible to have any form of privacy on the internet. Whether your profile is set to Friends Only or Totally Private there is no such thing as either. Ever since this social network became a household name there have been all types of warnings that say: Make your profile private, don’t befriend people you don’t know, don’t place your real name online, etc. However, rarely is advice ever given about not posting any type of revealing information. The internet is a public forum where anyone can obtain any of the information you put out.

I recently Googled my own name and found multiple sites, facts, and information about myself that I did not even know existed in cyber space. As a young professional who is about to graduate college I know that my future employers will do the same and type my name into a search bar to find some sort of information. With that said, the only things I post are only the things I don’t mind people knowing. The only things my friends and I message each other are things I would not mind if my worst enemy found out. If the need arises for me to talk about something too personal, there are these wonderful little things called telephones. They were made in the 1870s and they work wonders for growing your friendships as well as business relationships -  that’s only if you actually use them for more than just texting.

The online world may be the first impression you get to make. It may be your only chance to prove yourself worthy of the position you are applying for. Make it count.

11.

"Facebook" and "private" should never used be in the same sentence unless the words "is not" are between the two.

In this day and age it is virtually impossible to have any form of privacy on the internet. Whether your profile is set to Friends Only or Totally Private there is no such thing as either. Ever since this social network became a household name there have been all types of warnings that say: Make your profile private, don’t befriend people you don’t know, don’t place your real name online, etc. However, rarely is advice ever given about not posting any type of revealing information. The internet is a public forum where anyone can obtain any of the information you put out.

I recently Googled my own name and found multiple sites, facts, and information about myself that I did not even know existed in cyber space. As a young professional who is about to graduate college I know that my future employers will do the same and type my name into a search bar to find some sort of information. With that said, the only things I post are only the things I don’t mind people knowing. The only things my friends and I message each other are things I would not mind if my worst enemy found out. If the need arises for me to talk about something too personal, there are these wonderful little things called telephones. They were made in the 1870s and they work wonders for growing your friendships as well as business relationships -  that’s only if you actually use them for more than just texting.

The online world may be the first impression you get to make. It may be your only chance to prove yourself worthy of the position you are applying for. Make it count.

11.

"Facebook" and "private" should never used be in the same sentence unless the words "is not" are between the two.

In this day and age it is virtually impossible to have any form of privacy on the internet. Whether your profile is set to Friends Only or Totally Private there is no such thing as either. Ever since this social network became a household name there have been all types of warnings that say: Make your profile private, don’t befriend people you don’t know, don’t place your real name online, etc. However, rarely is advice ever given about not posting any type of revealing information. The internet is a public forum where anyone can obtain any of the information you put out.

I recently Googled my own name and found multiple sites, facts, and information about myself that I did not even know existed in cyber space. As a young professional who is about to graduate college I know that my future employers will do the same and type my name into a search bar to find some sort of information. With that said, the only things I post are only the things I don’t mind people knowing. The only things my friends and I message each other are things I would not mind if my worst enemy found out. If the need arises for me to talk about something too personal, there are these wonderful little things called telephones. They were made in the 1870s and they work wonders for growing your friendships as well as business relationships -  that’s only if you actually use them for more than just texting.

The online world may be the first impression you get to make. It may be your only chance to prove yourself worthy of the position you are applying for. Make it count.