Have you ever wondered why printed magazines are still in business? Well, after the train wreck I just went through trying to register for an online contest, I too cannot imagine. Well done Hearst Corporation for destroying my loyalty in your Popular Mechanics enterprise. Meh.
Pour a steaming mug of hot cocoa and drop in a handful of marshmallows, kids! It's that special time of year when Justice takes a look at the many facets of branding, marketing, social media, cultural trends and related offshoots, and tries to sound smart by prognosticating on what we can look forward to in 2013.
Whether you watched the presidential election results with a “the sky is falling” reaction or a “raise the roof” dance, you can’t argue that we’ve all been affected one way or another. However, the bigger question for me is whether people made their decision early in the campaign season or were influenced by information they picked up closer to Election Day.
When people first construct a “personal brand,” the last thing they're concerned about is juggling the content, data, monitoring and associated analytics that come along for the ride. Personal branding sounds like a great idea on the surface. It allows you to control ownership of your voice, create thought leadership and add credibility to your professional outreach.
Trying to explain the thrill of creating a new technology, startup, user experience or integrated marketing tactic is hard to do with just words. But that excitement is ramped up tenfold when you're creating something that affects the real world. Such is the case with the new patent-pending technology that is being released by Starmark. This is the integrated advertising agency that I call home. Here I get to play with some of the most amazingly talented individuals that I've ever had the pleasure to battle for the best ideas. However, when we were challenged to construct the technology that would reward people in the real world, it was a new level.
Life really does come full circle sometimes. It’s interesting that I spent my formative years observing my parents as professional educators – and now I find myself in the same place. Some people have told me I was destined to be an educator. I don't know if that's true. But even though everything in my extremely busy life indicates I don’t have the luxury of surplus time right now, I felt the need to jump at an opportunity that recently came my way.
Friday, January 11, 2013 at 10:43AM