What disappointed me this year is the lack of creative Superbowl commercials. Many advertising firms and companies lack the creative input to market their brands to new consumers efficiently. Screw the stereotypical gender and sex jokes. You professionals are not fifteen years old anymore. Why would I want to use Groupon or BigDaddy.com as online services when their commercials pretty much sucked? Do you want to know what was my least favorite Superbowl XLV commercial? Hint: It was not the Best Buy/Justin Bieber one.
Sketchers
Plus I love watching little kids play dress up. I do that all the time (in my own special way) and it was funny to see how the little girl embodied Darth Vador's character throughout the whole commercial, especially the part where she thinks her imaginary telekinetic powers activated the Volkawagen when it was actually her father in the kitchen. I also like that Volkswagen played around with gender ambiguity. I thought it was a little boy at first, but you only see the stereotypical pink room in the house so I would presume its a little girl. If it is not, then it's fine. Little girls can still be Darth Vador when they grow up!
Chrysler probably still outsources their labor in places like Mexico and India, but it offers the American people a U.S product and the choice to buy the car to help stimulate the economy and the pockets of American workers who work at the Chrysler plants to make the cars. I think after writing that last sentence, I do not know if I should hate the company for potentially outsourcing millions of American jobs overseas, but nowadays most U.S companies do it. You just have to adapt to the times. What were your favorite and least favorite Superbowl ads this year?
I am very excited because I finally get to work remotely with Mr. Hopkinson on his blog/podcast. Check it out here and subscribe!
So what is a linchpin? A linchpin, according to marketing guru Seth Godin, is someone that you should aspire to be. Linchpins stand out by creating ‘art’ (meaningful work) through emotional work and are not afraid to challenge the status quo. With this economic recession, a lot of people including myself, are reevaluating our career choices. People are leaving their jobs to launch start-ups and other ventures. If this had happened 50 years ago, these people would have been outcasts. Why would they leave their secure jobs with good 401K plans, health insurance, and retirement pensions to start a company? Now answer this question. How many current “jobs” have these same financial benefits? Very few. Fast forward. So wait, Santa Claus performs meaningful work? Think about it.
Today, people create blogs and social profiles to leverage average consumers, future employers, and industry experts. Santa pretty much does need to use social media like we do because his brand has already developed through centuries of folklore, not YouTube. But if he were real and wanted to get with the times, a strong social media presence would be beneficial because he could connect with millions of his fellow admirers online. Do you know how many tweets and Facebook comments he would get from people? Trillions. Epic Twitter shut-down! But for Santa Claus, it would just be a day in the life of a linchpin, reinventing himself one character at a time.
What are your holiday plans for Christmas and New Years this year? How has Santa Claus change your life? And Happy Holidays everyone! :D
As I return from my one-month break, I ask myself, "Do you miss me?, What is the future of this blog?, When will I ever make my mark in the world?". My answer? In all due time.
It has been a month since I last blogged and I miss it and you guys! *Hug*. I came back right in time before the 2010 MTV VMAs! We will hear more about that later, but I have so many announcements. I am just going to shout it out:
1. I am invited to another Apple Retail Career Seminar next week! I submitted my resume on the Apple Career website again and within a week I got an email from an Apple recruiter asking if I can come. If you remember from my last Apple seminar, it did not go so well. Yet, all my cards will work for me instead of against me this time. I know what to expect and I have an lot to offer to the company.
2. Last month, I started the Guest Blog Giveaway and only Jessica contacted me with her article. If I do not get a response from Shannon and Nickelnm by Friday, I am going to look elsewhere. You see I think I have learned a lesson while I was on hiatus. Work smarter, not harder. If people were really interested in guest blogging for me, they would have contacted me weeks ago. I am not going to hunt them down. There was ample time for a connection. I know others who are willingly to guest blog and contact me about it. I have no time to find people.
Overall, good things are coming my way and I just know it. Most twenty-something career-orientated women just want to network and find careers that suit their confidence levels. I am not afraid of challenging traditional ideologies of business and thought. I just want to have fun doing what I love doing best right now: working persistently and reinventing my brand.
I think with the work I am doing with the New Jersey Medical School right now, all I want is to connect with others and master the art of productivity. As Seth Godin would say (yes I am reading his book at the moment!), today is the age of the linchpin and we must acknowledge and embrace the art and creativity inside of us all. It took me over a year of soul-searching and reexamination to understand this, but I am finally learning what it takes to work hard and to value my own art. It's growing and it should.
I think Cyndi Lauper said it best! Welcome back everyone!
