"All life is just a progression toward, and then a recession from, one phrase-'I love you.'" F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Notable Quotables
"I never said change would be easy. When you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy - that's just how it is."
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-President Barack Obama
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Finding a 'Thank You'
Being in the the business of public relations, specifically brand marketing, is often a thank-less job. Day-in and day-out, you work to build out strategic and creative programming to appeal to media... you sit through seminars on pitching... and craft pitches that achieve the perfect balance between witty and informative. Press releases are written. Events are planned. Spokespeople are booked.
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This preparation and training eventually leads to sitting on the phone or emailing for hours pitching stories/news to media. At times, you find yourself listening to the voicemail messages of an endless number of editors and producers who seem to always be on deadline and never available for your 10 second practiced and rehearsed pitch (and you can really say a lot in 10 seconds... believe me). You send perfectly tailored email pitches with the most eye-opening subject line that you can imagine... praying that this one time, they will open your e-mail.
Or at other times, the media is eating up your story... you're balancing your day by scheduling interview after interview... nailing the key messages... delivering killer coverage and you end up with a gazillion impressions that often can be hard to directly tie back to sales of a product.
Your mom really has no clue what you do other than market products sold in a grocery store. People compliment you on your brand's advertising. No one can pronounce your agency's name right, and they chuckle when you give them your email address.
And the salary... let's just say is thankless in itself.
Especially in a year when media has changed so dramatically... newspaper staffs have been cut across the country and magazines seem to be dying every day... fighting the same PR vs. media battle can get weary.
But... then days come around when it all seems to click. When months of fighting for a program materializes into something truly mediable. When reporters suddenly embrace what you've been passionate about for what seems an eternity. When you and your team land a placement that you couldn't even dream up.
Today was that day. The ChicagoTribune.com shed some serious love on two of the products I work on. Although I'm not mentioning them by name, (to avoid this blog being picked up by blog monitoring alerts) I will direct you to the articles that speak for themselves.
Even if I send a long, dramatic and overly-excited e-mail to my clients, copying the entire freaking company... and no one responds... I'll still be ecstatic. Because this is why we're here. Clearly not for the 'thank yous' (although they are nice).
We're here for creative processes, the strategic planning sessions and that amazing rush you can get from that perfect mention... Those are the 'thank yous' that give you the extra fuel to keep pitching... the additional confidence to make that one more call. Because although there's a 90 percent chance that either you'll get hung up on or hear another voicemail... it's that 10 percent where the relationships are built, the placements are made... and the programs succeed.
And so, I will file these away into my "heck ya" file... and remember, this actually is a pretty fun job. And be thankful that even after four years of working on the same products... two blog posts in the food section of ChicagoTribune.com can drive me to complete elation, for at least a day.
Until later... keep reading those papers and blogs... and watch out for more good news coming your way!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Notable Quotables
"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
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Conan O' Brien
A Winter Park Wonderland
Once upon a time there was a town that embraced winter. That prayed for snow. That loathed the thought of summer... that spent hundreds of dollars on outerwear so that they could stay outside one hour longer and take advantage of everything that Mother Nature brought them.
Clearly, I'm not describing Chicago. I'm talking about Winter Park, Colorado. Population 400.
As a city girl in all aspects of the word, visiting a town like Winter Park was refreshing, renewing and re-energizing. Why, you ask? Let me tell you...
- Unreal backdrop: Picture this. A regular CTA Chicago Plus Card owner and non-driver, taking to the winding, narrow mountain roads of Colorado in a larger-than-Colleen Nissan Armada. If I could have split myself in two... my better half would have taken advantage of this scenic drive in the passenger seat, snapping pictures at every opportunity. The reality was my more stressed-out self white-knuckling the steering wheel, praying that the "avalanche area" sign was just a formality. Don't you worry, however, once in Winter Park... my camera was out and ready. Montage to be posted tomorrow once I'm back in the comfort of my apartment... after I sleep a ridiculous amount of hours.
- Flirtation station: I don't know if it's that Chicago guys are intimidated/scared by Chicago women, if they just want to wait until some girl sweeps them off their feet or they just don't want to make the effort... but I often feel that the art of flirting is lost in the Windy City. Maybe it's the girl/guy ratio, or maybe it's the increased level of endorphins from skiing, but Colorado boys know how to flirt. And sometimes harmless flirtation from a normal, cute guy can really put a girl in a good mood. Just saying.
- Gym-free workout: Perhaps it was my lack of time on the slopes... or my lack of time in the gym, but skiing for a full day... I'm talking 10 a.m. - 4 p.m... with just a short lunch break... is a killer workout. Even just walking in those awkward ski boots must burn 100s of unknown calories non-trackable by a treadmill. Needless to say, I will be sore, and potentially tired, for the next week.
I will definitely re-visit Winter Park... but I'll always come back to sweet home Chicago.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Menver or Bust
There are distinct turning points that can lead to an eternity of craziness or just a large pothole in an otherwise smooth road of life.
I had one of those moments this past weekend when I found out unexpected news about one of my December ex's. One sentence that made me question a majority of emotional decisions made throughout the past two years of my life. Just a few words that solidified every reason why we're not together. Seconds of a night... that have the potential to be replayed in my head for years.
Although I sat there silent, numb and unaffected... I couldn't help but recognize that oh-too-familiar feeling of not being good enough for that same someone. So right then and there, I vowed not to take the looney route... because it wasn't worth it. I promised myself to recognize the situation, feel what I felt... and then move on... and never. look. back. Or at least look back with completely clear glasses.
And so... instead of going crazy... I'm going to the land of mountains and men, the Vegas for single ladies, the center of sun and skiing. I'm going to Denver.
This dramatic weekend news was actually perfectly timed to fall right before a pre-planned business trip. And my bonus extended one-day ski trip will for sure help me shake this emotional slump/single gal pity party.
All day Friday, I'll be hitting the slopes with my pseudo-brother and his friends from college. I have every expectation that I will be the least fashionable of all the Winter Park ski bums... that my Gap attire will be shunned by the all the local Denverians cloaked in head-to-toe Northface wear... that my minor experience skiing on the hills of New York or Wisconsin will land me on my butt more times than I will ever admit.
But I also know that when I'm at the top of those mountains, ready to position my skis in the V formation, I will look out into those postcard-perfect, breath-taking views, and I'll get exactly what I need: Perspective.
...Perspective that life is too short to dwell on things that you have no control over. That there will be a day when I look back at last weekend as a positive turning point. A pivotal moment that led me into a great, confusion-free future.
Have you ever found yourself having to choose between the bunny hill of insanity and the black diamond of reality? Hope you found yourself a diamond.
Check you later gators... I'll see you on the slopes!
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