Archive for December, 2005
Bonus Vidcast: Holiday Madness
by Jared on December 20th, 2005
Ever been at a holiday party and wanted to kill the guy with the video camera? Well, apparently I am that guy and this is the video from the party….this is roughly day 5 of the 10 days of cheer/partying…enjoy!
Update - Show Schedule & 2 Cents Challenge
by Jared on December 19th, 2005
Holiday Greetings Marketing Fans!
Just wanted to update you on the schedule for the “Forum” in the next few weeks. The 10 days of holiday cheer/partying (that somehow turned into 11) is over and now I will thankfully be taking some time off to see my family and to get the heck out of town for a while.
I do have a blockbuster Vidcast that I will post on Tuesday morning but then the next new episode will be on Thursday, January 5th. Until then, I wanted to say one thing as we come to the close of the year…
I had two realizations this weekend. The first one is that each one of us deserves friends and significant others that deserve us. Funny enough, I have lost sight of that once or twice this year and ended up in a situation that I just wasn’t happy in. I did it because I wanted to please others and that, in my view, was going to make me feel better. The good stuff in life - much like in business - is hard fought. More than once this year I have thought about ditching all of this and heading off to start a different track somewhere like New York City. New friends, new mindsets, less drama.
The truth of the matter is that as tempting as it is to cut and run, I have to salvage what I can. What you have to do, I’ve found is to dig until you rediscover what the heck it is that got you excited in the first place and then you’ll see that spark of opportunity.
The second thing I realized is that you have to stay true to your own words and work. Instead of touting the things I need to improve for myself I want to hearken back to a challenge I laid out earlier this year:
UPDATE: BLOGGERS PUTTING THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTHS ARE
Referenced Post: “The Bloggers 2 Cents: A Challenge”
Words to date (including this post): 6,407
@ 2 Cents a word - I will donate $128.14 to Whitman-Walker Clinic, a non-profit community-based health organization serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region.
If you’re one of the folks that have pledged to match this contribution - feel free to shoot me an e-mail because I want to aknowledge your efforts.
Have a great holiday and a bright new year!
Episode #20 – C Spot
by Jared on December 15th, 2005
Culture anyone? Workplace conditions provide one type of hilarity this time of year – examine office culture in the context of a holiday office party. Also featured, a candid assessment of the last 20 episodes. New feature: job segment.
I) 20 Shows And Feelin’ Good
II) Culture, Office Parties, My Sordid Past
III) Have we actually learned anything?
IV) Game Plan: Job Updates and Opportunities
Click Here To Listen To The Podcast
That Ain’t Kosher Marketing
by Jared on December 12th, 2005
So most people would assume that in this, the season of non-denominational, commercial joy and goodwill towards retailers, we would stay as far the heck away from religion as possible.
Leave it to Tyson Foods, though, to drag industrialized chicken production back to the bible belt.
We have seen how faith can drive elections, politics, and policy - now witness the power of prayer on commerce. AdAge.com is reporting that Tyson Foods is injecting a good ‘ol dose of religion into its marketing tactics. Christian, Muslim (and I am assuming Jewish is stuck in there somewhere) faith now plays into its marketing strategy - a handy, all-denomination prayer booklet.
Sound crazy? Maybe, not so much…
Its true that some consumers are very wary of purchasing from companies they believe to be too preachy but there seem to be a lot more that are compelled to buy something from “the power of the lord.” There is mounting research that says that this is an incredibly intelligent, if not risky and time-stamped tactic.
In it’s defense, though, the prayer booklet is very well done with prayers ranging from blatantly Christian to “Rub, a dub, dub. Thanks for the grub.” I am inclined to believe that if you are one of the 95% of Americans that believe in some higher power, you will be OK with at least one of these prayers.
Despite all the good work they did in contstructing this thing, I am personally against this tactic when it comes down to it. Taking advantage of someone’s belief system is unfair and I think will make you loose more friends than it will gain you in the long run.
For right now though, given the state of things in America, the class, and poise in which they are doing this (I encourage you to at least examine the prayer booklet to see what I mean) I think the only thing I can say is : PRAISE JESUS, COLONEL SANDERS, HALLELUJAH AND PASS THE DRUMSTICK!
10 Days Of Holiday Cheer/Partying
by Jared on December 9th, 2005
Ok, so I am running perpetually 10 minutes late right now, I am exhausted and I haven’t finished my coffee - what a better time to explain what the heck will be going on with next week’s show.
I am now engaged in what I affectionately term as Jared’s 10 Days of Holiday Cheer/Partying. For 10 straight days, I have office parties, corporate parties, friend’s Christmas parties, get togethers, pot lucks, tree trimmings, and orgies…ok, maybe not the orgies. Regardless, for 10 days straight I have parties every day guaranteeing if I didn’t bare an extreme grudge towards the holiday season before - watch out!
We all have holiday parties and 20-somethings more than anything else know how they can rock out and put you in some very strange situations - especially if you party with co-workers. I am going to see what the heck happens when I do this to the max and try to keep my sanity (as I am typing this, I am relegating myself to the fact that any moment I am going to fall asleep on my keyboardsdsdfglAHSgh;jjdml/ansd/iwsik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,ik,drgv….
…wha? ohh…where was I? OK, so lots of parties, lots of advil - feel free to post here about your work holiday party experiences and the hilarity that ensues….take care and I will catch everyone on the flip side….
Episode #19 – The Secret of Reality ~ Part II
by Jared on December 8th, 2005
Dive, yet again, into reality and face what else – tough decisions! Examine why we don’t know we need to make them sometimes, how they effect marketing and product management. Top it off with some good Jewish Christmas commentary and you have one morreshow for the books.
I) Tough decisions and changing
II) The imperative of making tough choices
III) Its tough to be a Jew on Christmas (featuring VP, Morale – Cara)
IV) Its not the decisions that actually matter
Referenced Links
Take This Hot Survey
Double Your Pleasure - Not Double My Fun
by Jared on December 7th, 2005
Hello Everyone,
I am assuming that by now, you have seemed to realize that the show somehow got re-downloaded to all iTunes subscribers. While I am attempting to locate the source of the glitch, I wanted to assure you that this not, indeed my version of a WorldComm scandal to boost my ratings ;).
Regardless, apologies for the confusion and I look forward to posting Episode #19 on Thursday morning…in the meantime, take this double download as an opportunity to tell a friend about the 20-Something Marketing Forum and share with them the joy of lauding over the fact that you are Marketing Illuminati and they’re not.
Best,
Jared
Chief Contributor
Guess What Kids….Its Survey Time!
by Jared on December 5th, 2005
Everyone know what time it is???
That’s right…it’s survey time!
If you have listened to the show even once, then take 2-3 minutes and TAKE THIS SURVEY
Click the link or cut and paste this: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB224TXYUN2LT
Its fun (sort of), its quick (like my last ‘relationship’), and it would help me out a ton!