photo by Nigel Peake
I have been harping on the “creativity in the workplace” thing for a while now.  Sort of because it would really help me if got popular (I once completed a chemistry exam in high school with all illustration answers.  Got a D) but also because it’s becoming more and more necessary to come up with creative solutions to marketing.  The template is out there and it’s Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. until everyone has one and being creative suddenly means the difference between people caring about your brand …

I was in Mineral Point this Saturday showing some relatives around Wisconsin and I always try to show people that Wisconsin is more than a big beer and cheese factory (not easy when our state is, in fact, kind of a beer and cheese factory).  The difference between Mineral Point and many art centered areas is that it’s more than galleries.  All of the artists live there and you can also go through and see many of their studios and workshops.
When we walked into Bruce Howdle’s gallery he shouted “Oh!  …

A few weeks ago I attended a happy hour for young professionals.  It was the usual array of business owners, marketing people, and tech folks and I was having some great conversations until one lady asked me what I do.
“Social Media strategy” I answered to which she said “oh.  I KNOW how to update Twitter.”  This happens a lot, and it’s ok, but it does bring up a really good point about social media expertise and who businesses should be hiring to complete it. To me, there’s a really distinct …

photo from The Small Object
I have been talking with a lot of bloggers lately that are interested in working with brands but aren’t so sure about how to go about it. Since I come from the other side and help brands find partners online (bloggers, communities, events, etc) I have some good tips for you when you are ready to actually ask a someone to work with you. Here they come:
1) Make a list of people you’d want to work with. This can and should be your dream list. …

(This is part of a series for Realtors)
I’ve been talking with a lot of Realtors lately which is odd since I’m in no way looking to buy a house or anything… they just sort of suddenly were there in my circle of people.  I met a realtor at a networking event and the next thing I knew I was at a young professional realtor event.   The first thing I noticed about them is that real estate folks, as a group, are DRAMATICALLY better looking than most groups as a …

So, I’m sitting in my favorite coffeeshop and it’s one of those days when I’m trying to get something done and I’m totally distracted by two women sitting next to me having an honest to god conversation about how many grocery stores they shop at.  I’m not trying to be judgemental but in a moment of smugness I give them a look.  Which one of them catches.“I’m sorry,  we’re in your office aren’t we?”  Instantly, I feel bad,  it’s a coffeeshop!  I don’t own this place, it’s not my office, …

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O’Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.Isn’t this such a good start to today?

As I get ready for another round of travel (San Diego and SXSW) I’ve got my eye out for cool travel gear.  This site has travel sizes of really nice beauty products that all make it through security check points.   Guys, they have men’s stuff as well.This also works great for those of us who like to try a product before we buy a whole tub o’ whatever.

This post is one I’ve been thinking about for a long time and now that some agencies are pushing to retain creative rights to their ideas throughout the process, it’s doubly relevant.  I really suggest you read the article in Adage, it’s clearly a growing problem.  When you’re a creative team or shop and you make your money by crafting and then executing ideas (designers, social media folks, artists, etc.) it’s hard to know how much to give clients in order to show off how great you are and what …

Obviously, we don’t set out to make mistakes in our work.  We don’t want to hit rough patches, low traffic times, factual errors, planning errors, or even typos but they happen.  They always have happened and they always will.  Sometimes it’s small like a number typed wrong and sometimes it’s an idea that seemed really good but turned out not so good (United not responding to United Breaks Guitars).  In social media there’s a lot of room for the latter type because to be perfectly honest there’s a lot of …