When I first read about Go Miniman Go!, the celebration of the 30th Birthday of the LEGO Miniman in Ad Age, it really took me on a trip back to my younger days.
One LEGO moment I vividly remember was watching my older cousin use an insane amount of LEGOs to replicate a scene from the American Revolution for his eighth grade history class. With LEGOs and a little imagination, anything was possible.
Somewhere along the way I lost touch with the LEGO Miniman, but I reconnected with him when I stumbled across “Classics in Lego” on Balakov’s Flickr page. This guy has some great replicas of famous historical pictures. Here are some of my favorite from his photostream.
lunch atop a skyscraper
vj day times square
He also has a nice Star Wars collection.
Star Wars, Darth Vader
Balakov grew up with LEGOs, is still a fan, and is notalone. There was a time, though, when LEGO wasn’t so sure.
In May 2008, Jake Mckee, Chief Ant Wrangler at Ants Eye View and Former Global Community Relations Specialist at LEGO did a guest post about building community on Rohit Bhargava’s Personality Project blog. According to McKee, LEGO was ignoring the fans, so he began to reach out to them, and in 2003, he created a series of comic strips “to showcase the mindset, issues, and interests of the adult fans for people inside the company.” He described the strips as “a fun and comical look at some fairly complex issues, distilled into four-panel strips and complete with punchlines.”
The comic strips were eventually distributed online among fans and turned out to be a huge hit, giving McKee serious credibility in their community and (I think) fostering relationships sure to keep LEGO around for a little while.
Like the running man, Legos have always been there, and if they continue to acknowledge their fans they’ll continue to be. Now, if you haven’t seen it, check out the Go Miniman Go! video. Happy 30th LEGO!
Three days into my new role and I’m glad to say the transition is going well…thus far. I am really comfortable with the process. So, you’re probably thinking what’s the problem?
Here’s the thing: I expected the transition to be rough. I left behind some good friends, went to a company much larger than what I was used to and switched career focus a bit. In describing my new post to friends and former co-workers, I got everything from “That sounds great” to “You know how those big firms are; I hope they don’t treat you like an underling.” Great words of encouragement, right?
Anyway, the journey’s just begun and it’s off to such a good start that it had me thinking all day: “Why am I so comfortable?” I think I’ve figured it out. It’s my network.
Lately, I’ve been feeling like the Verizon guy, with a great network of people nearby if I need them.
My college network led to several great internships, including the one that led to my first job after college, and when the time came to move on the next chapter of my career, I had several people to call on for references, advice and perspective on the company I considered moving to.
The most surprising thing and the most comforting was the fact that when I arrived, I discovered that I already knew two people here. One from GW days (someone who lived across the hall from me freshman year) and another I met through blogging and the Brazen Network. Like the Cheers song, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. I know its not a lot of people, but when you’re new, two is enough to get you going.
My network, from freshman year straight through, has been a tremendous help. How’s your network these days?
So I’m on Bolt Bus right now and making full use of the wifi. The music for today’s ride will be provided by iTunes, Tuneage and the baby crying in the back row.
I am extremely glad to be breaking out of the district for a little bit, but I am also glad that I will really be able to catch up on family happenings, the greatness of NYC, my reader and email.
Part of this email catch up will involve posts to del.icio.us. Before I became addicted to all things social, I was “that guy.”
Who’s “that guy”? The one who emails himself great links so that he could either read them later in the day or store them for later use. No worries I am no longer that guy!
I knew of del.icio.us, much like the way my great aunt knows of Facebook, but I never bothered to use the site. Thankfully an awesome person sat me down and showed me Common Craft vid on it.
Instantly, I saw the inefficiency of my ways and signed up. If you’re reading this, you know I’m into Public Relations, Marketing, Branding, Social Media and cool things. That means that you’ll find bits and pieces of all of these on my page.
I hope you find the links there useful, and let me know if you have any links you think I’d want to check out.
For quite some time now, I have been deep in thought. I’ve pondered my goals, passions, principles… where I am, where I intend to go and where I’ve been.
Whenever I’m mulling something over, you usually can tell. I am extremely quiet, my preferred playlists include a WHOLE LOT of gospel and smooth jazz, and I write blog posts with a tiny hint of that which is to come. I’m glad to say that I have come out of that period of deep thought with some clarity and a new direction.
So here’s the official announcement: In a few short weeks, I’ll be transitioning from my current post and joining the Online team at APCO Worldwide!
I’m a little sad to be leaving some awesome co-workers, wondering how the transition from job 1 to 2 will go and extremely excited about working with a great team of people on some amazing online projects!
For anyone currently lost in thought, here are a few quotes that may help you find some direction:
“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight”
- Jim Rohn
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
- Lao Tzu
“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
- Henry David Thoreau
“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction”
- Winston Churchill
“Goals allow you to control the direction of change in your favor.”
It’s been a really long time since I’ve done any straight up campaign prescriptions. If anyone out there has any suggestions for campaigns to check out, feel free to email me at james.walker@prpescriptions.com or DM me on twitter: @jaywalk1. Like, I said, it’s been a while, but here’s something I had to share.
Sucker City, Mad Mag
Background: Nope, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. Mad Mag ran a piece on Circuit Sucker City and their Grand Opening downtown right across from Best Buy. Already, I’m laughing. Here’s the other part:
Looking at this, it is clear that several people take shots here, including Nintendo and the epilepsy community. I actually don’t know how funny I think the Epilepsy Victim Bundle is, but that’s a topic for another day. Despite all their shots, I never would have expected a response like this from Circuit City.
What? Why? It’s funny. The only big problem I see here is the joke about the epilepsy bundle with the bitestick controller. You’re a big brand (at least in my mind) and here’s a group poking a little fun. How much harm could it have really caused?
Let’s review this person’s plan of action:
1. Remove all copies from the store.
2. Destroy them
3. Throw it away
Problem solved, right? This person has lost their sense of humor and as a result, really lost it!
Diagnosis: I think the response here was a big overreaction. If anything it caused a little buzz about Circuit City, a brand I associate with my crappy Compaq which always seemed to know the perfect time to freeze, ignore my internet connection, destroy a CD, shutdown or all of the above. That too is a topic for another day.
Prescription: A fun response. By the time I learned about this, it was already taken care of by a smart guy named Jim Babb.
Now, here’s how you deal with something like this. Light, acknowledges the issue, but still humorous. When dealing with these types of things, it’s always best to do the following:
1. Take a deep breath.
2. Think about the positives and negatives of the current situation.
3. Think about potential repercussions of your actions.
4. Find the nearest Gen Y PR Professional.
5. DON’T LOSE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR!
* If you’re in danger of violating #5, check out Business Guys on Business Trips. It’s hilarious, in that kind-of true but don’t want to admit it kind of way.
1 year 2 months, the amount of time my LinkedIn profile says I’ve spent as a full-time professional in the Public Relations industry. Not a great deal of time, but I’ve seen, heard, said and learned a lot. There will be more posts in the coming weeks which relate more closely to my daily dealings, but for now, I’d like to weigh my professional experience against something else, my social media experience.
1 year 2 months, the time I’ve spent working as a Public Relations professional
vs
2 years 3 months, the amount of time I’ve spent experiencing social media
I am not an expert and don’t claim to be. (The first point in Dave Knox’s post on the Cult of the Amateur definitely made me think about that for a bit.) However, I’ve experienced enough to know a little about social media’s reach and power. When thinking about it, a few words and phrases come to mind: crazy, interesting, shocking, massive.
I won’t be so bold to say that everyone participates in social media, but I believe that a good percentage of the people who do participate or benefit from it don’t even realize. David Meerman Scott’s post Why “do you use social media?” is the wrong question for marketers to ask really led me to think about that.
I really think Scott is right when he says:
“Practically everyone uses Google and other search engines regularly and the search results frequently include blog posts or YouTube videos or other social media content high in the search results. So even though people may report ‘no’ when asked if they use social media, nearly everyone has been to a blog or other social media content through search.”
Scott’s final point in the post was that we should “use social media data with caution” and not let our bosses diminish the hidden value of social media. I can recall several arguments discussions at work when the power/weight/reach of social media has come into question, and it’s not always the bosses either. There are a few naysayers in the younger ranks as well. The battle conversation normally is focused on one thing:
blog audience vs. media impression/circulation
If we just look at the base data, we are missing the point. People who read blogs are generally very engaged and want to know more about the topic they’re checking out. They may blog, have facebook accounts, network on LinkedIn, read wikis, and share content through email too. They’re engaged. Many of them do it without even thinking about it.
I’ve heard the phrase “Each One Reach One, Each One Teach One” used at several workshops and conferences. When I think about the power of social media, I think about the power it gives each one to reach five or ten or fifteen really engaged people who share what they’ve learned with 15 or 20 more really engaged people and on and on. In the end, isn’t that we want? Just a thought…
By now you may be rolling your eyes, but I’m gonna say it. A social campaign is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.
When I first checked out the Big-Mac Chant Off, I thought a couple things:
1. Don’t like the design….we’ll not the whole design, just the font.
2. Potential for a great campaign!
We can ignore the first thought, just me being picky. Regarding the second thought, how did I know it had the potential for greatness? I just think about how many versions of the Oscar Mayer commercial exist:
I knew that people might produce some really good chants, but I never expected that the top chants would be this diverse in style. They include elements of funk, soul, rap, synthesized sound reminiscent of T-Pain, southern-style snap and reggaeton.
Not sure if this speaks to the MySpace audience, McDonalds audience, the type of music most popular in our generation or all of the above. All I can say is Mickey D’s, job well done. Thank you for engaging!
So I was poking around on the source of all these days, Twitter, and I came across a pretty cool blog called The Machine is Us. The most recent post featured Feist’s Sesame Street appearance. Check it out:
Ok, so tell me you weren’t wating to see that glorious white Apple icon to appear! If you weren’t, you’re better than me. That commercial ran months ago, but as soon as she started “1,2,3,4″ I was thinking “iTunes, iPod, iPhone, download, buy, buy.” Maybe I’m just a little more susceptible to ads than the average guy.
Anyways, I always found these appearances on Sesame Street amusing. Here’s one of my childhood favs featuring the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz:
The debate about banning or blocking social sites has been going on for some time. Listening to the conversation, it seems like the most heated debates surround the topic of banning facebook, with some making the argument that it hampers productivity and others claiming that it can help the employee get work done.
I have blogged about my productivity before. Truth be told, finding a balance or system for getting work done while being engaged in social sites wasn’t easy, but I did. It is my responsibility to get the work done, and at times, social sites like Twitter have helped tremendously. I am a firm believer in the idea that all that matters is that the work gets done on time and done well. Outside of that, what else matters?
Initially, I felt the urge to join the conversation Matt Elliott started, but I wanted to come up with something different from the majority of the comments already posted at Brazen Careerist. I wanted to find a way to articulate to employers what social media means to most people in my generation, and it hit me last week on the metro as I was reading Geoff Livingston’s white paper The Socialprise.
Geoff’s paper includes some nice insights, and I definitely encourage you to check it out. The thing that led to my great metro moment was actually a quote he provided from Charlene Li. Promoting Groundswell, the book she co-authored with Josh Bernoff, Li said:
“Social Networks will be like air. They will be anywhere and everywhere we need and want them to be. And also, without that social context in our connected lives, we won’t really feel like we are truly living and alive, just as without sufficient air, we won’t really be able to breathe deeply.”
EXACTLY! That is it right there! It’s like air! If you take social sites away, it would be like trying to breath with no air! If you’ve been following PR Prescriptions at all, you know I like to make musical references. Here’s one for today’s post:
Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown - “No Air”
But how do you expect me to work all day and NOT Tweet?!
My world revolves around it, it’s so hard for me to breathe.
Tell me how I’m supposed to breathe with no air? No Air… No Air…
Posted by jaywalk1
Posted by jaywalk1
Posted by jaywalk1
