Light my fire Matchstick: 5 reasons you need to hire me

Dear fine decision makers of Matchstick, I want to work for you, badly.

Let me just start off with a quick introduction. My name is Blaze. I just graduated the Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications program at St. Lawrence College in Kingston Ontario, and I was born to work at your agency. I saw your description, researched your organization and I determined that a résumé and a cover letter was just not going to cut it. So I am taking a stand. Here are 5 reasons why you should just light the fire and hire me as the Program Coordinator at Matchstick.

1.     I am interesting. Anyone that has ever met me will agree. I am exploding with energy and optimism, and can generate conversation around just about any topic. If you take the time to meet me, you certainly won’t forget me.

2.     I am a team player. I have been part of team since I could walk and talk. From sports to internships and everywhere in between. I am dedicated, and I will show you that, every second of everyday.

3.     I am motivated. Too much is never enough. I want to learn and grow everyday, and I have demonstrated that in my internships, jobs and education. I am constantly taking on additional responsibilities in hopes that I will continue to keep learning.  My most notable accomplishment was my selection to attend the trip to the Pivot Conference. I was a member of the only student group to attend.

4.     I never say die. Marketing is a stressful profession. I think the biggest obstacle for positions of this nature is maintaining a positive attitude and staying focused. That’s how jobs get done. By hard working, creative minded people who never give up. I never go down because I never quit fighting. Whatever the challenge I will meet it with determination and optimism.

5.     I can do the job. This is so often a point that is overlooked in the basic cover letter and resume. There is a lot of promises about how an applicant can meet your employment expectations, but after all, aren’t you a digital agency? I can blog. I can tweet. I can create relevant content on Facebook and so much more. Most importantly, I can identify with your agency and the brands you represent, from Jeep to L’Oreal.

To wrap up, I know your company. I know the brands you support. I know what you want in a Program Coordinator because I embody all that it represents. Give me a chance to sit down with you and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Light my fire, Matchstick.

-Blaze

This girl needs to be locked up ... in Azkaban

Ignorance.

Ignorance is something that is going to be remembered as one of the primary causes of the downfall of our civilization. Think about it. 99.9% of conflict on this earth is a derivative of cultural and religious difference and intolerance. People generate and maintain their own misguided opinions without even beginning to do the necessary research to determine if what they think even makes sense.

I saw a prime example of that today. If you are a Harry Potter fan, proceed with caution. This is going to upset you.

Before I continue, it is important to note that I am a fan of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I grew up with the story, and the characters that embodied it. Having said that, I also want you to note that the opinions that I express in the sentences to follow are not harsh simply due to my bias towards the series, but due to the sheer ignorance of the comment I read on Yahoo answers just today. I’ll show it in a screen shot to give the full effect. It reads as follows:

This is upsetting on so many levels. 

Before I start ranting lets clear up the confusion for all of you muggles out there.  The first Harry Potter book was released approximately 8 years before the first Twilight book was. Also Sirius Black was not a werewolf … in the slightest. Not even close to a werewolf.  Yeah, that’s awkward. Probably shouldn’t have said all that on the Internet for millions to see. #badidea.

Here is where the source of my anger lies. I do not expect her to know all the differences between the two books.  Depending on her age, that is a completely legitimate question. But when you post things on the Internet, they last forever. It isn’t just something you can remove at your will. Comments like these are the going to be our downfall. Do your research before you write something. Make sure what you’re saying adds value to universe. Otherwise … just keep it to yourself.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

-Blaze 

Things like this shouldn’t happen.

I saw something disgusting today.

We are lucky. We as a developed society have the opportunity to bask in the glory of freedom. Our forefathers established our constitutions, our soldiers defended it, and therefore we as citizens of Canada, America and the rest of the developed world get to do the things we want to do, say the things we want to say, and act however we choose (within the stipulations of our respective laws) without facing repercussions. 

It couldn’t get much better and most days I feel like I couldn’t be any luckier. I feel like I have it pretty good. But today I saw something I wish I didn’t.

I was linked a video by a close friend. This video is rather old so I was surprised that I hadn’t seen it earlier. What I saw was shocking:

Wow. In America?. In North America?. In any free land? I can’t tell you I’ve ever seen anything like that before. I am sure it’s happened but fortunately for them it was never caught on video. What’s worse is that it wasn’t the fault of the security on duty. They were obviously ordered to stop the “demonstrations” by somebody of higher authority. They were just doing their job. But why is this somebody’s job?

Scenes like this is why it is so important for us as a society to stand up for our beliefs. There are rules. There are laws. But as citizens of a free land we deserve to have the opportunity to have our rights. So stand up for them.

Stand up for what’s important. Things like this shouldn’t happen.

-Blaze

Hey, thanks Cupid!

I don’t like Valentines Day.  

I am a guy, so there are all the normal guy reasons for not liking valentines: It’s impossible to find reservations, there are endless expectations and I hope you enjoy eating Kraft Dinner for a month because there goes half your paycheck.

But it goes deeper than that. I am not that cheap, and I am certainly not heartless .I just don’t buy into the mindless concept that love and relationships should be celebrated on one day.  

Valentines is meant to be a day where people have the opportunity to celebrate their relationships with the people that are special to them. Good idea right? Everyone likes to know they are important. Everyone likes to know that somebody cares. I don’t hate the idea. But I also didn’t hate the idea of communism. That worked out so well.

Here is the reality.  We have created this holiday where people who don’t have someone special in their lives feel alone and isolated and those who are lucky enough to have someone special in their lives get to spend a significant amount of money on chocolates, cards, teddy bears, dinners, etc. The list goes on. You’re welcome Hershey and Hallmark. You can pay your employees for another year.

Why can’t we just appreciate the people in our lives everyday and skip this Valentines garbage? Hershey’s and Hallmark is not the recipe for successful relationship.  Consumerism is taking over our lives. Stop the madness. Celebrate your life and the people in it everyday, not just one day in the middle of February.

-Blaze 

Let your game speak

Inspiration drives profit. People want to be like the athletes and celebrities they admire. That's why they pay astronomical amounts of money for items that cost only a fraction to produce. Nike invented the endorsement. Michael Jordan re-invented Nike. Now, Nike sportswear turns everything they touch into gold.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have been an unpaid employee of Nike sportswear ever since the day I saw Michael Jordan in game six of the 1998 NBA Playoffs. I was only 8 years old but I already knew that the guy was the best player to ever step onto the court. A hero. A legend.

Michael had Air Jordans therefore I wanted Air Jordans. So did every other basketball fan in the entire world. Not a bad idea Nike, that’s a pretty good spokesperson to have for your brand … I guess.

His Airness has been in countless advertisements for the brand over the years but here is my favorite. Second Generation uses the moves and moments that made Jordan a legend through the use of up and comers all over the world varying in sizes, genders and races. This fan-made video showcases it’s brilliance by displaying the ad beside real-time footage of Jordan in these moments. Check it out.

The actual ad on YouTube has over 2.3 million views. Not bad for a television ad that was produced almost six years ago. Everyone wants to be like Mike. So create a shoe that allows them to do that and than go create an ad allowing them to envision themselves in those moments. I know I bought a pair of Jordans that year. 

Can't get much better than that. 

-Blaze

Hack me one more time … I dare you.

I had a bad day today.

I am a pretty optimistic person. I try to make the best of every situation but today was a horrible day. I had a rough shift at work, my car died (this time for good I think), and I fell down and ripped my favorite pair of jeans. But when all is said and done, I can live with all of those things. People have bad days. We brush things off and move along with our lives. But one thing happened today that I couldn’t move on from. One thing that crossed the line from mildly irritating to completely infuriating….

My twitter account got hacked … again.

All of those other things happen, and to be quite honest all of those other things are probably my own fault. I haven’t been getting enough sleep so work has been more difficult, I don’t take good care of my car so it was only a matter of time, and I should have been paying more attention before I tripped this morning.

But nothing pisses me off more than people hacking into my accounts. That twitter account is my account, not yours. Don’t touch it please. Yes, maybe I shouldn’t have clicked that link that read “Hey, so some real nasty things are being said about you here http://t.co/qK7syqa I can’t believe what was said”. That was probably a bad idea. But whatever, sue me for being curious, the Internet has never lied to me before. So I changed my password and the spam went away for a couple weeks, until today, when it happened again.

Why? Why twitter?

There is nothing worse than being that guy on Twitter. Nobody wants to be that guy. Nobody likes knowing that they are single handedly putting 60 + people in a bad mood. But on top of that, I get to hear about it all day long. I got 8 tweets asking me to stop and about 4 text messages advising me of how annoying and horrible I was being. Yeah like I am intentionally doing that. I promise you, I have better things to do with my time.

Attention hackers:

Leave me alone. Get a hobby. Go meet someone if you’re lonely. Join a club.

I don’t care what you do but you’re messing with my entire operation and I’d appreciate it if you just didn’t.

Thank you,

-Blaze

But what if you can?

“You can’t”

A familiar phrase. A very familiar phrase. A phrase that is so familiar that it is single handedly responsible for the failures of millions of people. Everyone’s heard that phrase at one point in their lives. We as a society are obsessed with the idea of failure. We want so badly to feel good about ourselves that we tear down others to bring a feeling of value to our own lives.

Some of you may be thinking, “ Speak for yourself, I don’t do that.”

You’re lying to yourself. Everyone does it in one-way or another.

We as a human race strive towards excellence. We want to be successful. That is a given. And somewhere, at some point in our lives we have spewed a negative, ignorant comment towards an individual simply so that we could feel better about ourselves. Everyone has said to their co-worker “congratulations on that promotion, you really deserve it” just before telling another co-worker “I deserved that promotion way more than John”. This negativity can stem from jealousy, fear, anxiety you name it.

I’ve seen this first hand. I’ve been on the sending end and I’ve been on the receiving end and it makes me laugh. What if Michael Jordan quit playing basketball after he was cut in his sophomore year of high school? What if Steve Jobs disappeared after being ousted from Apple in the 80s? What a different world this would be.

The point I’m trying to make is that there are probably 50 other Michael Jordans and Steve Jobs out there who didn’t make anything out of their lives because they listened to the negative energy that others generated. What a difference it would make if we all heard a little more of “you can”.

Spread a little positivity,

-Blaze

Being original

Societal expectations are important, don’t get me wrong. It’s important to have rules and guidelines to follow otherwise the world would just collapse into a fiery ring of chaos. But where does it stop? When is it appropriate for us as individuals to stop listening to others and begin listening to ourselves? We as a society have put up a wall. 

We have put up a block to anybody in this world who dares to be even a little bit different than everybody else. When was the last time you saw a CEO of a fortune 500 company with a sleeve of tattoos? When was the last time you saw a leader of a country be any younger than the age of 30?

Yeah … if you think of anyone let me know.

If it’s happened than it’s rare. But why should it be? Value is value regardless of how it’s packaged and the constraints that are put on us, as individuals to conform to the masses are countless. Even those who achieve brilliance who don’t fit the mold are pegged with an asterisk (you know those backhanded compliments, “He was an innovator, but very eccentric”). Great potential is often squandered by the unwritten code that was developed hundreds of years ago by a very small group of individuals. Yet a very large group of individuals are forced to abide by them or face ridicule.

It’s okay to play the game, everybody does. You say and do things you wouldn’t necessarily say and do in normal circumstances to gain acceptance. However, as a student of marketing, where appearance and overall impressions could not be more important, I’ve learned that value of not losing myself. Success is great but not at the expense of your own values. Following societal rules are at times important, but finding the ability to make your own are just as important.

Be original.

-Blaze

Is social media making us less social?

Is social media making us as individuals less social?

Some skeptics feel that individuals are so focused on communicating online through social media, that they are forgetting the fundamentals of face-to-face communication, leading to a less social group of people. It was a question that caused me to do a little investigating and what I came up with draws an interesting parallel.

The Internet is one giant community of individuals connecting with others based on their particular interests. They share what they want to share, talk about the things they want to talk about, and access any information they consider relevant wherever and whenever they want to. It’s a community, and when you take the time to break it down, the Internet seems like a familiar place.

The reason for this is because on one level or another most of the population has experienced a parallel to the Internet (at least the social aspect of it). The Internet is one giant high school.

Do you remember high school? There were many different groups of people who shared commonalities and interests with others. These similarities allowed for friendships, which in turn allowed for the individuals to talk about a variety of topics that they cared about. Everybody had a different set of characteristics but many were able to fit into a particular group based upon general interests. These groups whether it be the jocks, the intellectuals, the drama club etc. Were able to connect on a certain level based upon the things that mattered to them at that time.

Enter the explosion of the Internet.

Now everything has changed. Instead of a small group of people that you are able to share commonalities and interests with there are now countless people from all over the world that share those same interests. Whether it is sports related content, how-to computer assistance or movie blogs, people are able to find other people all over the Internet who care about the same things they do. It’s an evolution that is assisted by technology and allows the beholder to access information that is completely relevant to their interests and beliefs. The beauty of it is that unlike high school, you don’thave to participate or be subject to any information or content that you’re not interested in. You decide.

After examining the similarities of the two seemingly unrelated concepts, I’ve drawn the conclusion that social media is not making us less social at all, rather it is branching out our means of communication. This change raises eyebrows like any other major change in today’s society would, but it is allowing individuals to connect with others in a way never thought possible. This is evolution.

Generations of the Groundswell: Who is leading this revolution?

The recent explosion of interactive communications on the web has had a profound effect on how people communicate. This can be said with how businesses communicate with their consumers as well as how individuals communicate with their friends, family and topics of interest. The groundswell is a very real part of our lives.

One major point of discussion as of recent is determining which group of individuals is truly leading the explosion of interactive communications for businesses. If you can determine that than you can find everyday online heroes to help convey your message for you. In today’s world of cynicism and mistrust this form of communication has the potential to go much further than any print or television ad ever could. So who is responsible for the success of online social interaction in relation to the corporate world?

There is no clear answer to this question. The common misconception is that Generation Y is the sole driving force behind this revolutionary trend.

I disagree.

There is no argument that the younger generation is one that is constantly connected. Social networking is prevalent, and with the explosion of the smartphone we as individuals can now connect with anybody at any time of day, regardless of where we are in the world. Generation Y grew up in a world where technology was evolving at a speed never thought possible before. Because of this it was adopted as a natural form of life. It’s used as a communications tool to link with friends and the things they care about.

On the other hand we have the older generation. This group of people have been witness to the trend from the beginning. The change to the Internet was so rapid that many were skeptical at first. However as the Internet began to expand, this generation began to come to the realization that this trend could positively effect their businesses and their day-to-day lives. In recent years, the older generation has embraced these technologies and use them as much as possible to make up for lost time. They want to connect with the businesses and organizations they care about.

The two generations are exact opposites in my opinion. Generation Y uses social networking to connect with friends. Where as the older generation is more likely to use it as a forum to connect with businesses regarding their products and services.

In closing groundswell thinking is prevalent in the lives of millions of individuals. The important task is to determine how your customer is contributing to it and react accordingly.

Warning: this is more than 140 characters. Event Planning and Twitter.

The age of interactive communications is here, and people are far too busy to read long-winded messages anymore. The days of reading two page emails on a particular subject are dwindling. They have been replaced by a very different, but now very common phenomenon that can be summed up into three words “just tweet me”.

Twitter Changed the Game

Now people participating in the online community can communicate with the brands, people, and associations they care about in 140 characters or less. This form of communication is very friendly to users who wish to keep in touch with mobile devices. Almost everybody has a phone, and now everybody can use their phone to send communications through tweets, while going about their daily routines. This is huge because everybody is busy. With twitter they can communicate with everyone they want to and they can do it quickly. Amazing.

Twitter in the Business World

Twitter is great for businesses because it allows for businesses to connect with their consumers by providing a medium in which to begin and continue conversations. The new age of interactive marketing is all about important two-way conversations between a business and their customers. This provides an excellent forum to begin and mantain conversations around products and services. Twitter also allows customers to share their thoughts with other customers which is important because people trust their peers more than businesses. Assuming that businesses are contributing and handling objections effectively, it gives their customers a sense of trust for the brand.

Having said that Twitter is not designed for everybody on the Internet. Businesses need to determine to what extent their target customers are using Twitter before determining how much energy to put into it. Another important point is that all feedback is user generated and cannot be controlled. This is not an automatic negative to the medium rather a threat. If concerns are handled effectively this can be a positive for the company, if not the results can be disastrous.

Using Twitter for Event Planning

Twitter can be very beneficial while planning events if used properly. It is very easy to promote events using Twitter because everybody that follows you will get all the necessary information from your stream on their home page. This allows you to send all the information including links to itineraries, important updates on the event, and even links to the keynote speakers presenting at the event. This is great because rather than having to go to different pages or make a phone call, everything is laid out using one medium.

It’s not all positive though; Twitter is only beneficial if the target market for your event actually uses it. It is important to target the demographics and psychographics of your customers before utilizing Twitter. Twitter is also somewhat unorganized and this can be difficult for an event planner because the main goal for any event is for it to be as organized as possible. If conversations or updates are not sorted in consistent hashtags, important parts of conversations could be lost in the clutter. This is a threat because not everybody uses Twitter as effectively as others. If used improperly it can create a disconnect between the coordinators and the target audience rendering it ineffective.

In summary Twitter has become a major form of communication on the internet. This can be very beneficial to businesses, and more specifically event organization if handled correctly. The trick is using Twitter effectively based on the needs of the consumers.

The importance of digital influence

Earlier in the week during the Social Media Marketing class there was a very interesting question fielded to the students. The question was “Is Klout/clout/influence important or useless?” It was a question that was the point of a heated debate with many different opinions on the issue.

Since that day I have been giving the topic serious thought. What I found was that the question itself has three different parts that have to be broken down into individual categories, as all three are completely different things. The topic I am going to focus on primarily is that of influence and it’s importance in user-generated content on the web.

Since the explosion of social networking in the last decade people have shared their thoughts on millions of issues with millions of people all over the world. These topics of conversation are about anything the people participating in the conversation want it to be. It allows everybody in the online community to express themselves anyway they want to people that care about the exact same things. They are two-way conversations. Two-way conversations have one key requirement… influence.

My opinion of what influence is may be very different from yours, so let me define. Influence to me (in an online setting anyways) is sharing your opinions or thoughts on something and creating a means by which to have a two-wayconversation. This does not necessarily mean getting other people in the conversation to see your point of view. Rather it gives people a chance to hear your opinion and add to the conversation with opinions of their own. You are influencingthem to get involved. Any comment that spurs on a genuine conversation about something is, in my opinion influential. The comment does not have to interest everybody because not all topics of conversation are things that everybody cares about. But somebody, at least one person should care about what you have to say otherwise why are you posting it on the Internet to begin with?

What does this mean for businesses?

We have entered the digital age. Consumers are no longer listening to long winded corporate driven messages any more. They want to interact on a personal level with the companies and brands in which they have a vested interest. If these companies’ do not generate content that is interesting to their consumers’, their consumers will simply find another competitor that they can relate more easily with. It’s all about building personal relationships with consumers’ based on their personal interests.

In closing, online influence may not be the most important thing to users on the Internet, but it should be.

The coolest thing since soap on a rope: Welcome to the Internet Ivory

Soap is traditionally boring. Who really cares about soap? Soap isn’t really sexy, or interesting and to be perfectly honest soap is a household item that most people take for granted. Sure we’d notice if we didn’t have it, but most of us are lucky enough to have it so we don’t really give it much notice. Any soap is good soap and it’s one of those products that present a challenge to marketers. How do you create brand insistence with soap?

You join the masses online.

Ivory soap has been cleaning individuals all over the world since the late 1800’s. However they were starting to become boring. Companies like Old Spice have branched out their advertising, marketing their new body wash lines and for the most part Ivory has stood still. Since the product was launched it has carried a simplistic image with no strings attached. This works in the world of traditional media but with the amount of people online, your company has to be there or risk losing visibility.

Ivory answered the call by putting together a Facebook page to help interact with their consumers online. The company is not off to a bad start but there is room for improvement. Ivory is generating conversation with their consumers, and their consumers seem to care about the topics of conversation. The company has a segment that functions as a forum called “The Soap Dish”, where people who care about Ivory soap can talk about things that are important to them. One common topic of conversation revolves around children and the trials and tribulations of raising them. This of course appeals to their skewed female demographic. However, a very small portion of the conversation is centered around the company and the products it offers.

Having said that, the company is beginning to generate a following online and since the launch of the Facebook page on August 1^st of this year, the company has managed to gather 14,739 “likes”. Not too shabby considering the most interesting thing to happen to soap in the last 100 years is when it was offered on a rope. The challenge remains to drive conversation around their product using their other topics of conversations as a forum by which to get the conversation started.