Christien Louviere

I spent a few days at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition last week in Boston on behalf of Dukky. Despite the gloomy economy and the shrinking budgets of consumers and marketers alike, enthusiasm about the future of e-commerce buzzed. It seems we’re on the brink of a new frontier – thanks to emerging mobile technologies, wide adoption of social networking sites and a new consumer sentiment that prizes transparency and responsibility.

Here are the five most important e-commerce concepts I either learned (or remembered) while at IRCE:

1) Look at the mobile commerce space as the web of the early 90s: Mobile is changing the world. From the riots in Iran to the coupons in your local grocery store, mobile devices are changing the way we communicate, make purchases, spend our “free time.” Smart phones are 13% of the market now and growing to 38% in 2013. A lot more innovation is to come.

2) Focus on connecting consumers with your brand not your products: Under Armour’s vice president of e-commerce Mark Kuhns said their social media strategy is focused on creating a connection in their customers lives rather than just selling them stuff. It’s working.

3) Email, social & search should be integral in customer acquisition: Customers are spending more and more of  their time online. You need to go out and find them there. You’ll lose them if you don’t.

4) Many companies spoke about getting ready for the recovery instead of wading in the recession: Now is the time to innovate – it’s not the time to hole up and hide. We wrote more about innovation is key to keeping your marketing job earlier this month.

5) Be fiercely competitive and don’t be afraid to take ideas from the bigger players: Amazon is a great example – they started by just selling books and music, now they sell just about everything.
What are your thoughts on e-retail on today’s econcomy?

Taken from my post on Dukky

Todd Skidmore pulled out the win with his design.  Heather and I, independent of each other, chose his design as the best.  The contest was close between four participants, but I liked that Todd made the laces hot pink.  Hot pink in the laces will allow me to replace them with black after the wedding.  Rolling to the gym with too much hot pink might look a little funny on me.

While I did get some cool new kicks out of the contest for my wedding, I was interested to see the viral effects of the contest.  Overall, I was very pleased with the results.  The contest ran from March 9th to March 31st.  Here are some stats from the contest:

-Over 1,500 hits to my site
-Almost 1,000 unique visits
-Over 20 user-generated submissions
-Trackbacks to multiple shoe blogs
-Twitter helped push my blog up to readers in Beaverton, OR (Nike HQ)

I learned a great deal about how users interact online.  However, there are several things that I would have done differently next time.

1) Make it easier to submit designs.  The process did cause more problems than I expected.  It would’ve been easier to have the users email their designs to me.
2) I wish more public commentary on the design had ensued.  I was disappointed with this aspect of the contest.
3) Get more people that bleed Nike to participate.

Thanks so much to everyone that participated in any form! If you tweeted the post, created an entry or simply left a comment about what you liked, I really appreciate you helping me have fun on my big day!  It’s going to be fun!

The response to my Nike Shox Wedding Contest and your chance to win $50 has been pretty impressive so far.

The Back-story…

About 6 months ago while discussing wedding plans with my fiancée, I tried to convince her that my groomsmen and I should be able to wear customized Nike Shox as our shoes for the wedding.  Somewhat of a debate ensued.

“It will look horrible!” she playfully exclaimed.
“Jerry Seinfeld did it!” I anxiously responded.
“You’re not him!” she responded as if she were my mother.
“I’ll make sure all the Shox match the vests.”
“No, it the worst idea ever!” she exclaimed in her customary, enthusiastic and playful 5-year old like pitch.

At that point, I proceeded to work on her friends, thinking that she might seriously consider it if it had some strong XX chromosome backing.  Outside of one that works for an ad agency, the idea never picked up steam; but I did manage to help the girls burn off lots of calories through laughing.

Fast Forward…

Two weekends ago, my fiancée informed me that she had spent $300 on her wedding shoes.

And of course, being made up of XX chromosomes, she can’t help but brag about the “deal” she received, especially since the deal is related to shoes.   This price phenomenon is one of those female conversation starters that I’ve never quite figured out, and I consider my female knowledge slightly above average.  Anyway, she saved some $600 on the “Something Blue” Manolo Blahniks that Carrie Bradshaw wears in the Sex and the City Movie.  If I was a girl, I would have jumped up, hugged her, hit her with a pillow, kissed her and then started to…well, you know all that stuff that Cinemax says that women do when men aren’t around.  Unfortunately for both of us, the conversation took more of a logical approach.

“Wait! You get to wear blue shoes with your white (ivory) dress, but I can’t wear my NikeID Shox?” I asked with sarcastic inquiry.
“But, baby,” she said pleadingly.  “They’ll look terrible; and besides, no one will be able to see my shoes,” she said hesitantly as if she knew what my next move was.
“Then, whyyyyyy are we spending $300 on shoes that no one will see?” I responded in typical guy fashion I assume.
I then heard a voice from above whisper to me, “Well played sir.”

I’m not really sure what happened next because I think I mentally blacked out from my strategically placed response; but when I regained consciousness she was telling me about something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.  The part about blue sounded made-up to me, but I didn’t care because she informed me that if I wanted to wear Nike Shox to the reception only then I could do so.  Victory!!  A series of questions ensued with the only stipulation being that she gets the final say-so.

The Result

After I declared victory, I told her that I would put my social media skills to the test to help choose the colors of my new shoes; thus, we now we have the Nike Shox Wedding Contest.   The goals of the contest are simply to illustrate how the various aspects of social media can be used to create a successful marketing campaign, show how easy it can be to create personal involvement in a brand movement, get people to use their creative talents and for me (and the groomsmen) to be comfortable on my wedding day.

Within 24 hours, I had hits on my site from over 10 countries and a few from Nike’s corporate headquarters.  The contest has a little over 2 weeks to go and there have already been 16 submissions.  So far, I like what I see, but I’d like to see some more questions to make the shoes as personal as possible.   I can’t wait to see what other submissions come forth.

Fine Print: Nike is not officially involved with this contest other than they’ve done their part to keep me as a customer for throughout my entire athletic career.  My fiancee is just simply awesome for letting me do this.

If you read my blog, then you know I’m a big fan of the Nike brand and their commercials.  They’ve been there with me through all my days as an athlete in soccer, basketball and football.  At all levels whether it was all-star teams or the powerhouse that is LSU football, I more often than not chose Nike gear.  I figured they ought to be with me on one of the most important days of my life too.

During my wedding reception (5.9.2009), I will need that extra confidence and bounce to make sure I can make it to each food station with ease as they unveil new dishes throughout the night, meet n’ greet my guests with grace and, more importantly, glide with elegance and style on the dance floor.  I will only be able to perform at my maximum in a set of Nike Shox.  Using this reasoning and my superb litigation skills, I convinced my fiancee to let me wear a pair of Nike Shox during the wedding reception!!

The best part: I’ve chosen the shoe, but YOU get to choose the style and have a chance to win $50!!!  It’s quite simple to compete and win, so here are the rules:

1)    Go to NIKEiD and design a pair of Nike Shox for me to wear at the wedding reception.

2)    The model has to be a running shoe, which are the “Turbo+ iD,” “Experience+ iD,” “ NZ iD” or the “Turbo+ VI iD.”

3)    Save the design to your Nike profile (aka “myLocker”), use the “share” feature at the bottom right to copy the hyperlink to the design and then comment on this post with your design and hyperlink for all to see.

4)    The winner, chosen by us, will receive a $50 Nike gift card!

5)    Pictures of the shoes in action will be posted upon return from the honeymoon.

You can read the backstory on this contest here.

Considerations…

1)    My groomsmen and ring bearer will have the option to wear these shoes as well, so your design could be on eight pairs of feet!!

2)    Feel free to comment on the blog with questions or check here regarding anything about the wedding so you can better tailor your design. e.g. What are your colors?

3)    Feel free to email me the wallpaper download, so I can put a copy in my Flickr Stream.

4)    This is a subjective contest, so if you like someone’s design, please leave a comment saying so.  It may influence the results.  Also, my wonderful fiancée gets the final say-so.

5)    Even if you’re not competing, pass along the link to this blog.  Increased competition yields better results.  That’s what Nike and I are all about.

6)    Feel free to ask me any questions about the NIKEiD site or this contest.  Contest ends when my bachelor party begins at Midnight EST on  April 1, 2009!!

Remember when Burger King first showed us how to “Wake Up with the King” with a series of commercials that showed a really weird guy in a mascot get-up?  Everyone seemed to be a little freaked out by him; but now everyone sees him as a mainstream character.  If you’re working on business development inside a start-up, this is how your clients will view your new product, and your goal is to get them thinking about your product as something they need to have.

Like the BK commercials, starting out, your clients are a little shocked and distorted by the images shown to them.  After their initial confusion has passed,they quickly try to process and translate the images that have just passed in front of their eyes.  This is the part where you have to be on top of your game because it’s now your job to “connect the dots” for them.  If you fail at this juncture, then you will lose your prospect quickly; and it’s will be terribly hard to get them listening again.

These 3 things will help get them interested and the conversation warm:

1)    Know Your Product In and Out – Seems obvious right?  Well, it’s not enough to know just your product.  You must to know all the ones that are alike, seems alike and nowhere near alike.  This is your golden opportunity to establish yourself as an expert.  In a business relationship, this is what will make you trustworthy.
2)    Be Familiar with Their Needs – Don’t be arrogant in trying to know more about the client’s business needs than they do.  You won’t, and it makes you look unprofessional.  Some business development professionals are so anxious to get a client that they start sprouting off irrelevant ideas.  Instead, have an idea of what they might be looking for and begin a dialogue with your prospect at that point.  Listen!
3)    Establish a Strong Follow-Up Agenda – You just found out their true needs, so how can you possibly have a solution for them already?  If you’re selling something revolutionary, then you can’t.  Even if you think you already have a “God-like” solution in mind, establish a follow-up agenda.  It will show that A) You care about their brand and want to give them the best possible solution and B) You now have a reason to follow-up that is mutually beneficial.

When selling a “revolutionary” product, it’s important to remember that they don’t have to have your business because in their mind they have survived to this point without it.  It’s your job to understand your product and their needs, so you can “connect the dots” for them.

These 3 simple strategies will help you sell like The King by helping potential clients brush off the initial confusion of your product and get them to look at your product as a mainstay of their business success.

The NFL Combine took place this past weekend.  Too many times, especially in large sales organizations, the sales manager will solely look at performance numbers from their previous sales positions.  This is certainly a place to start reviewing candidates, but it can’t be the sole factor in your hiring decision.  You have to put them in an environment that will test their talents in a manner that will be relevant to your organization.   In each of their previous companies, there are too many variables to possibly speculate whether or not a candidate will be successful on your sales team.

The NFL Combine exists to offer draft prospects a chance to display their skills, mentally and physically, on a level playing field.  It is not possible for an NFL franchise to decide between quarterbacks Mark Sanchez (USC – PAC 10) and Josh Freeman (KSU – Big 12) by what they did on the field in college.  Getting an invite to the Combine is the first step in the interview process for these young men, but having to prove themselves in tests that are important to individual NFL franchises will be the deciding factors in their draft status and position.

In the world of professional sales, you have to run your potential hires through a “sales combine” to prove whether or not they are qualified to be on your team.  Here are 5 NFL Combine tests you can put your future sales stars through to guage how well they will perform for you:

1)    Wonderlic Test (Intelligence) – This sometimes-controversial test is a random series of questions that is supposed to measure a candidate’s aptitude and intelligence.  You don’t have to spend the money to administer an expensive formal test; but a search for random seemingly useless knowledge is crucial.  The last thing you need out in the field is a sales person that has nothing to discuss except your product or service.  The search for random knowledge can be anything from a conversation about business to art to a reading assignment from a particular book.  The point is to see how they think and converse about topics totally unrelated to what they will be selling.
2)    Vertical Jump (Goals) – Ask your candidates how high their goals are for themselves and the company.  Look for drivers in their answer.   Your sales team has to be a driven group of individuals.  Some sales managers make the mistake of simple wanting to hear, “I want money, money, money!” This is great, but it’s not the only thing that drives people.  Listen for the things that are valuable (drivers) for the candidate such as advancement and culture.  If they are things that your company can offer, then make sure to capitalize on those drivers.
3)    Bench Press (30-60-90-Day Plan) – The key to having success in any sales environment is strength of mind and endurance.  The bench press is a great test of this.  Have your candidates layout a plan for their first 90 days at the company.  If it’s a well-know product category, you can even have them write it out through 120 days.  It is a good exercise that will force the candidates to prove their grasp of the product and industry.  Their style should give you a view of their sales acumen.  If you’re in an emerging field, focus hard on the first 60 days and look at the candidate’s ability to adjust in a fast-paced environment.
4)    40-Yard Dash (Showtime) – The “40” time is often the most popular stat resulting from the Combine.  It’s the catchy number they shout out on ESPN because most people find it easy to understand.  The sales version of the “40” is a live sales presentation of your product put on by your potential candidate.  During the “40,” you’re looking for their grasp of the material, presentation skills and presence.  At this level, the difference between times is hundredths of a second; so you have to look for those 1 or 2 indescribable traits.
5)    3-Cone Drill (Agility) – During the presentation make sure to ask questions that your clients have typically asked you in the past.  Don’t be scared to push the envelope with your questions.  The goal is not to make them feel stupid because they can’t possibly be as polished as you.  The goal is to see how the candidate responds to being outside the comfort zone.

Sales people are like the pro athletes of the business world because they are in the spotlight of the organization.  They are often the most highly compensated individuals; however, along with their glory, they get most of the blame.  As a hiring manager for a sales team, you have to put your candidates under fire to get a sense of how they will perform when it’s game time.

I am really looking forward to using my Clear Card each trip because, as most travelers, I’m looking for any edge I can to save time and travel more efficiently.  Clear has proven that they will accomplish this for me, but I’m concerned about the mass marketing of the product.  I’m a sucker for great marketing and brand management. Clear has done a thorough job from registration through actual use.  It has all been first rate.

However, I wonder if the value (time) that I get from Clear will be lost in the coming years as they are marketing the product to every person under the sun.  Granted it’s limited to about 10 major cities right now, but it will become more common as more airports accept it.

The 2nd step in the Clear Card registration process takes place in-person.  In Atlanta, the options for me to do this are the Atlanta Airport or Lenox Mall in the heart of Buckhead.  Lenox Mall is the most popular and trendy mall in the city.  They have a booth outside of Banana Republic that markets Clear Cards like a credit-card company handing out those wonderful free t-shirts on a college campus.

In addition to airports, Clear is currently working with sports venues to accept the Clear Card to speed up the security process.  Currently, the Georgia Dome is the only arena allowing this.  I assume this is the major angle on selling Clear in the malls; but, I hope it doesn’t hinder the ability for frequent travelers to move through the lines at the speedy pace which Clear allows.

In my previous post, I discussed how well Clear seems to understand their client base.  I hope Clear is able to maintain its efficiency in airports as it was intended to do as Clear rises in popularity.

Today, I left Atlanta for Miami anxious to use my new Clear Card.  Before I even started, I had prepped for my new flying habits.  I always use my passport as my ID, but I left it in my bag as Clear said my Clear Card is all that I will need.
As I approached the designated Clear lane, two friendly ladies greeted me next to the Clear Machines.  She inserted my card, checked my boarding pass and then requested me to scan my thumb.  In less than 10 seconds, I was cleared; pardon the pun, to go through security.  The employee told me that I could put away my card and would just needed my boarding pass.  This turned out not to be true because when I came to the end of the Clear lane another Clear employee asked for my ID and boarding pass.  I handed her my Clear Card and boarding pass, which she then passed on to a TSA official.

At this point, I was wondering why I had just paid for this card because I had been checked twice in less than a minute.  Then, I saw an immediate value when 2 more Clear employees said, “Welcome!”  They then proceeded to open a special rope that allowed me to the head of the security line and avoid the cheese maze style line that was forming.  Myself and 4 other Clear members were in our own security line ahead of hundreds of other travelers.    As an added bonus, there is a Clear employee standing behind the table that gets the number of bins you need and even pushes them down for you if you have your hands full.

Quick Pros:
-The Clear Card acts as my official government ID, so I don’t have to worry about losing my Passport, license, etc.
-Virtually no people in line
-Personalized service during the security process

Quick Cons:
-Showing my Clear Card and boarding pass twice before I hit the X-Ray machine
-Clear may not be accepted by the returning airport (in this case MIA)
-Mass Marketing of the Clear Card (covered in the next post)

To this point, I feel that I am getting what I paid for.  The longest I’ve had to wait was at the in-person portion of the Clear registration process.  If you have any experiences using the Clear Card, I would love to hear about those…good or bad!

I completed my in-person registration two days before my last trip to NYC.  Less than 10 days later, I had my Clear Card in-hand.  It arrives in an envelope similar to when you receive a new credit card except is shows the Clear logo in the top left corner as opposed to some random PO Box in Iowa or South Dakota.  The card is glued to the letter along with two Clear Card sleeves.  The sleeves are meant to protect your card from scratches; so they are fairly aggressive in telling you not to place it in a cardholder next to other plastic cards.

I have been impressed with Clear’s personal service throughout the process and receiving the card is no different.  In addition to the card, a letter from the CEO was enclosed with his personal email address.  I don’t think he personally answers every email coming to him, but the gesture and the knowledge that my email isn’t being flown off to a random person in India is comforting.   Moreover, it is a statement that he wants to build something strong and positive from the ground up.

Customer Service
From the get-go, Clear preaches customer service.  I had to call Clear customer service after receiving my card because I had accidentally created two accounts because I tried to redeem two promotional offers (story for another time).  I waited less than three minutes and had a courteous woman answer the phone.  She quickly realized that I had accidentally created two accounts, and then proceeded to help me cancel the irrelevant one.  Impressive, considering that at a larger company this would’ve taken nearly an hour; and, for being such a new company, they were on top of their game when I needed help.

Clear seem to have a good grasp on their target consumer realizing that speed, time and efficiency are the most critical factors in the minds’ of frequent travelers.   I will be headed to Miami in the coming days; so I will be sure to post my thoughts on my first experience using Clear.

I am a frequent traveler, and I think most would agree with me that 9/11 took away any of the sexiness that was still left when it came to flying.  It went from “grab my bag and go” to:

-Slip-on dress shoes…check.
-Ziploc bag and nothing more than 3.4 ounces…check.
-Learning to be patient w/ people that don’t know the drill…”Seriously, you’re wearing steel-toed boots?” “Seriously, you have 3 laptops? They now have thumb drives!”  PULL YOUR HAIR OUT!!

I’m one of those people that don’t mind airport travel no matter what obstacles they throw at me; however that isn’t to say that I wouldn’t like it to be easier.  I’ve been hearing about the Clear Card for a while now and wondering when it would come to the busiest airport in the world (Atlanta).  For the longest time, it was just in Orlando, FL.  It’s finally here in Atlanta, so I decided to take it for a spin.

The Process

It’s pretty simple:

•    Find the best incentive for you.  I used Starwood’s Gold offer of 3 free months; but others offering are Delta, AirTran, Park ‘N Fly and Southwest. I’m sure there are many others.
•    Go online to Clear for the initial registration.  You will have to give up personal information.
•    The last step of the registration is an in-person process where they get your passport, eyeballs and fingerprints.

Subsequent Posts Cover:
•    My Clear Card Arrival
•    My Clear Card Experience
•    My Take on Marketing of the Clear Card

Over a year ago, my friend Darren Herman wrote a post about the social networks Facebook and LinkedIn colliding.  I saw this happening on a small scale at the time but not on the major scale it is now.  I now have clients, MBA classmates, colleagues, friends, family, Michael Phelps, dogs, cats, etc. all in one place!  This is NOT why I signed up for Facebook!  I signed up because I wanted to have easier access to my family as well as friends of past and present.  Also, when I was single, I could see if that girl I just met was crazy or not.  Anyway, like Darren, I wanted a place that I could keep in touch with real people or friends that I’ve actually met.

I have another acquaintance Ryan Coleman, a successful entrepreneur, that runs NextForce and argues (in short) that it shouldn’t matter what picture, videos, etc. are on your site because if your culture lines up with a prospective employer’s culture, then it’s all “gravy.”   I agree and disagree with him, and this is where my aggravation with Facebook comes into play.

Gen-Y understands Facebook…the new business networkers (largely Gen-X and beyond) do not understand it beyond having an electronic organizer.  I can tell they don’t get it because they have no picture or one, most likely from their company website, and then there is nothing else on their Facebook page.  People are becoming scared to put things up about themselves.  I have friends looking for jobs that feel the need to take down their walls, delist their relationship status and disassociate themselves with groups their passionate about.  I don’t blame them.  I would do the same…now.

Facebook is about to become LinkedIn Part 2.  It’s going to become a contact tool instead of a place to share things.  Facebook isn’t going to be the only one dying off.  This cycle will repeat until a solution is found.  Maybe an invite-only Ning is the way to go or the ever-elusive ASW.   Maybe Web 3.0 is all about tagging people as entities or degrees of separation.  i.e. Darren Herman (email, facebook, linkedin, mobile, AIM, in-person) or Ryan Coleman (email, facebook, mobile).

Gen-Y is still another 10 years from being the majority in hiring roles.  Until then, I can’t fully buy into Ryan’s way of thinking.

BTW, ONLY add me to Facebook here if you meet any of the following criteria:

1)    I have no idea who you are.
2)    You have 1 or 0 pictures of yourself up.
3)    You are reading my blog for the first time.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

*Almost 20% of game-playing respondents to an In-Stat consumer survey report downloading games from Internet sites other than their mobile carrier’s site.
*Of the 2,000 respondents, 29.5% reported playing games on their mobile handsets.
*In-Stat predicts the global mobile gaming market will top $6.8 billion by 2013.

Source: Cellular News

Stats surrounding mobile advertising are always out of this world because no one really has a clue where it’s going to go.   My curiosity runs high in this market because, like everyone else, I see so much potential.  However, like several other advertising mediums, it lacks a standard structure.

Google’s Android is about to release on the T-Mobile G1 in an attempt to compete with the iPhone.  Right now, a ton of money exists in the application market, but it is subsidized by user-purchases not advertising.  However, only 20% of cell phone users use smart phones (Blackberry, Android, iPhone), so how do companies capitalize on the rest of the market aside from ringtones, SMS and MMS?

What do you see as the next big step in mobile advertising?

I’ve always tried to do things a little different than the person next to me.

This world is so competitive that you have to do things to set yourself apart if you want to get noticed.  While this holds true for careers, it also holds true for life.  Stop watching ticker tapes all day.  Forget that the Dow is plummeting (You do realize it’s only 30 stocks right?).  Forget about what certain candidates have to say about it (You don’t think you’re going to get a real answer until after election day do you?).

It’s easy to go along with the crowd; but it’s harder but more fulfilling to go against the grain.  We’re Gen-Y, and by our nature that’s what we’re about.  Improve your personal brand by being the person that others look to for a light in the darkness.

Here are 5 ways to be part of the solution instead of the problem:

Take a Vacation
Grab a friend so you can spread some joy.  You don’t have to go to a tropical island.  Head down south with a buddy for a powerful SEC football game, hit a local beach or just go visit a friend you haven’t seen for awhile in another town.

Buy Some Stock
Undergraduate finance: buy low, sell high.  Do your part to help with the $700B buyout.  If you have a little extra cash, buy a little extra stock.  All I know is if RIMM drops a bit below $50, I have Chuck all over it!

Break Your Horn
Before you go cranking on your horn because you’re stuck in traffic, sit back and crank up your iPod.  Horns release middle fingers.  Music releases pheromones.

Grab a Drink
Finding friends to grab a drink right now shouldn’t be hard.  However, don’t let the talk steer towards the economy or politics.  Talk sports, sex or TV shows.

Breathe
It’s fall right now, which means it’s beautiful outside.  Find a spot in the park, sit on your balcony or lie down in front of a window with nothing on and take a breath or two or three.  Clear your mind and try to focus on what you have instead of what you don’t.

My point is not that you become this corny person that’s one-step away from working at Disney.  However, enough is going on right now to make everyone think the apocalypse is upon us.  Be a little different.  Try to be the light, and maybe it will be a little contagious.

BTW, hometown (New Orleans) featured in this V-Dub Spot.

With the job market following suit of the economy, it is hyper-competitive to land a great job.  If you believe that you are the best of the best, then you better have a solid resume that will drive that point home.

I have been working on a project for a client, which required research of thousands (probably hundreds) of resumes.  Now, I truly understand why HR professionals spend less than 10 seconds reading each resume that floats across their desk.   Aside from reading many generic resumes that looked like they came straight from a Microsoft Word template, I noticed that the “objective” part of the resume is the biggest waste of precious space.  The resumes that stood out to me had no objective but instead contained a “personal brand statement.”

The PBS doesn’t have its own section or bold highlight that reads, “Personal Brand Statement.” It is simply the first statement that the reader sees below the header.  The PBS is a quick but powerful definition of who the candidate is.

Why the objective is irrelevant?

1)    If you’re applying for a specific job, then the hiring manager knows what your objective is.
2)    It looks like everyone else in the database.
3)    Each resume gets viewed for 10 to 30 seconds and a generic objective isn’t going to stop anyone in their tracks.

What should be in my “personal brand statement”?

1)    Quantify what you can bring to the table.  Use experience, goals achieved or both…people like numbers because they relate easily.
2)    Once quantified, briefly highlight the steps you made getting to that point.
3)    Immediately below your PBS, list (horizontally) 5 (not 6) or 7 keywords that describe you.

I have been listening to my iPod relentlessly all week to rid the voices in my head that repeat phrases such as, “seeking a mutually beneficial position” and “seeking a rewarding and educational career.”  Blah!!

Lately, I’ve noticed an abundance of women coming out in advertising commercials; and quite frankly, it’s freaking me out a bit.  I mean that red-headed Wendy is now coming to life in the commercials, and she scares me.  As a kid, I had trouble eating my fries unless I turned the box around.

Most recently, I saw the Sun-Maid Raisin woman come to life.  When I see her picture, I feel as though she will try to force feed me a bushel of green grapes until I can no longer breathe.  It’s 2008.  Are brand managers just now getting comfortable with letting brands run open in the wild?

I think we can all blame Mrs. Buttersworth though for making her presence felt first.  Did anyone else know she was married?  I didn’t.

I can’t figure out why brands are making these characters come to life.  What does that do?  Is Starbucks going to have the Siren come out in their commercials and start attacking latte lovers? In this age of social media, I think they should employ more ideas from their passionate user base such as this viral Wendy’s rap video.