Craig Pladson

Colle+McVoy’s FEED IT educational series was created more than three years ago with the purpose of spreading inspiration and sharing knowledge throughout the agency and with our clients. We’ve had a wide range of amazing speakers, including Scott Belsky, Robert Stephens and Alex Bogusky. Independent film director Hunter Weeks will be coming to the agency to kick off our 2012 FEED IT series in January. As an extension of FEED IT, we launched our inaugural digital excellence session last week. These sessions take an active approach to learning through demonstration with a focus on emerging media and technology. After each of these sessions, we will post our presentations to the C+M blog, so you’re able to follow along, comment and ask questions.

This month's topic was Google+. We started by framing up Google+ within the context of Google’s greater mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. This, of course, placed an emphasis on search as we talked about the purpose and long-term validity of the network. The point is that Google+ is more than a social network. It’s an opportunity for Google to integrate their ecosystem of products and services (e.g., Gmail, music, photos) through a consumer-friendly social platform with targeted sharing functionality. Google+ also primes the pump for +1’s, which have a positive impact on search relevancy as people can easily find endorsed links from people within their Circles. The deck also informs the audience of the network's usage activity, demonstrates its main features and outlines implications for marketers. Click through the deck and let me and Dan Mandle know what you think.

Allison Janney

Bloggers can get a bad rap. “Who even reads blogs?” is often a question posed by teams or clients when discussing a potential blog outreach program. Actually, a lot of people read blogs. According to eMarketer, the number of blog readers in the U.S. will reach 122.6 million in 2011, representing 53.5% of Internet users.

I’ll be the first to admit that not all blogs are good blogs. It’s like finding websites – there’s the good, the bad and the ugly. However, when you want a third-party endorsement for your brand online, bloggers hit the sweet spot.

Here are some points of differentiation that make bloggers a powerful influencer group, and some ideas for how you can best work with them on behalf of your brand. 



Passion


Personalization


Creativity

Jen Stack

Nina Orezzoli

When World War I was over, the United States was flush in money and optimism. Jazz played over the airwaves of the very first radio stations, and Coca Cola’s advertising strategy switched from medicinal to fun. And on August 26, 1920, women were granted the right to vote.

Now, 91 years later, things look very different, especially for women: For every two men graduating from college, three women are doing the same; almost half of American households count a woman as the breadwinner; and more than half of the country’s managerial and professional jobs are held by women.

Next to statistics like those, it’s obvious that women are underrepresented in ad agencies, at least in creative and leadership roles. Only 3 percent of creative directors are women; and a 2009 study found no American ECDs who are mothers with spouses who work. Plus, earlier this year, Forbes published an article, “The Glass Ceiling in Advertising,” revealing that only 15 percent of top managers in ad agencies are female and that none of the global ad agencies are led by women. So today, as we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, established by Congress as “a symbol of the continued fight for equal rights,” I wondered how the few women holding successful advertising jobs are doing it.

Christine Fruechte – one of a small number of female ad agency CEOs in the country – explains her success like this: “I never felt limited by gender bias. I simply focused on doing the best job I could and over-delivering. The fact that I was oftentimes the only woman in the room was my reality, but it never felt limiting. If men in the industry underestimated me, I was just at an advantage because I knew what I was capable of.”

But, after many years in the industry and having the opportunity to work at agencies from Minneapolis to Honolulu, Christine decided to become a mother. “This milestone causes many of us to reflect on our careers and on what makes life fulfilling,” she says. But it can be an especially difficult transition for women in advertising, since this line of work requires our attention and extreme dedication.

We work unsteady hours. We travel for client meetings, conferences and shoots. According to CareerCast, a job in advertising ranks among the most demanding. Account Supervisor Jenny Stoltenow said she was reminded of this on her first day back from maternity leave. “One of my male counterparts said, ‘I can’t imagine being a mom in advertising.’ Two different people sent me stories about how agency jobs are in the Top 10 Most Stressful, followed by a study on how motherhood is the ‘toughest job in the country.’ That sets the tone for struggling in this job and having a family.”

Stacy Janicki, Director of Account Management and mother of three, had her first child at 24. “I was a young, ambitious account executive, and I quickly had to trade out happy hours for last-minute dashes to day care. I found myself overcompensating (taking work home, volunteering for extra projects) to make sure my peers and managers knew that I was still hungry and willing to pull my weight. I’d pick my kids up from day care and head back to work, kids in tow. I’m thankful that they have positive memories of this. Ad agencies are like amusement parks for young children: silly people making jokes and drawing pictures for you, scooters lying about, candy dishes everywhere, ping pong tables, jumbo TV screens, soda machines. What’s not to love?”

Stacy is one to point out that mothers in advertising become adept at squeezing everything in, although it means being unconventional. “The kids of ad moms usually have late bedtimes,” she says, “because if you’re getting home a little later, you want to maximize your face time with them.” Jenny puts it this way: “My need to sleep is losing out in the ‘have it all’ world. But I don’t want my son to grow up reflecting about how his mom was always looking at her iPhone when he was being fed a bottle or sending ‘one last email’ while he was learning to crawl, so when he’s awake and we are at home, my attention is on him 100 percent. After he goes to bed, that is when I finish projects.”

Lisa Holzemer, Senior Interactive Producer, is the newest mom at work. “So far I feel a wide range of emotions,” she admits. “Sadness to leave the baby [at day care], happiness to be solving work problems again, guilt, jealousy, elation. Everyone says it will get better. I’m waiting for that.” She feels she’s able to stick it out until then because she and her husband share their responsibilities. “We’ve always operated in a way that if something bothers you (e.g., dirty dishes or messy rooms), clean them yourself. I get to the things that bug me and so does Adam, but we let the other stuff sit until the weekend. Or the following week,” she adds with a smile.

The more I asked, the more I heard women say they relied on their spouses heavily. “I drop Beck off in the morning and Adam picks him up in the evening so I have the window to stay late if I need to,” Lisa told me. Stacy guesses she’s cooked 98 percent of the dinners, but she hasn’t vacuumed a floor in the 13 years of her marriage. Christine says she enjoys doing the laundry, gardening, cleaning, but isn't allowed to cook dinner or touch the lawn mower. She treasures the one-on-one time with her son, while her husband catches up on work or a game of golf with the guys; she calls this co-parenting.

That’s how I see it, too. As women become powerful contributors to their family’s financial status, there is a shift to a more egalitarian division of family chores - or, as in my case, a situation where some men are choosing to take the primary role in child-rearing so that the women they're married to can focus on their careers. Motherhood is becoming parenthood.

Earlier this month, Time ran a cover story, “Chore Wars,” citing new data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that proved men and women are evenly sharing workloads, both paid and unpaid.

“I notice how far things have come when I see how my dad looks up to my husband,” Christine told me. “My dad never changed a diaper, cooked us dinner, helped us with math or took us clothes shopping.” My own father, a pediatrician, changed the first diaper of his life when his visit to Minnesota coincided with one of my business trips. He told me about it proudly, with humor and enchantment at having done a thing like that for my baby.

Moments like that make it clear to me that both women and men are gaining so much from their new social expectations. By forming a true partnership with men – by selecting spouses they can collaborate with – women can go as far as they want in their careers. Even a career as time intensive as advertising.

Meanwhile, men are actually getting to experience their families. In the old advertising boy’s club, as on Mad Men, guys worked all the time, stopping occasionally to look at their children through the bottom of a martini glass. It’s not like that for John Neerland, Associate Creative Director. “I handle all day care pickups and drop-offs,” he says. “I also help out with meals and bedtime. My wife is on call four to five days a month, so I cover the child care during her shifts. Sure, it’s a balancing act, but it's worth it. I feel really fortunate that loving my family and loving my work doesn't have to be an either/or.”

Working together, women and men can both play a pivotal and better-balanced role in their own lives. And that's the kind of equality I’m after.


Nina Orezzoli
Senior Art Director
Colle+McVoy

Jen Stack

The Twin Cities is getting its own Nuit Blanche and we couldn’t be happier. We fully embrace and support our amazing local arts community, but we think it deserves a lot more attention. That’s what the international Nuit Blanche movement is going to bring.

Nuit Blanche (literally White Night, All-Nighter or Sleepless Night in French) is an annual all-night or nighttime arts festival that opens museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions for free and provides space for art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed social gatherings and other activities.

This Saturday, June 4, the Twin Cities is joining the movement by hosting Northern Spark , the area’s first ever, all-night long arts festival transforming the cities’ urban landscapes into a Twin Cites' wide art gallery. More than 60 regional and national artists together with the Twin Cities’ arts community will display new art installations at public places and unexpected locations throughout the cities. Directed and produced by Northern Lights.mn and funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board, Northern Spark takes place from sunset on June 4 (8:55 p.m.) until the morning of June 5, 2011 (sunrise 5:28 a.m. ).

While there are lots of events and places to visit, below is a quick rundown or cheat sheet of key events from our friends at Pop Fizz Daily:

8:55 p.m. : At Upper Landing Park in St. Paul, Philip Blackburn has composed a car horn fanfare. It will be accompanied by the lighting of Jim Campbell’s "Scattered Light" . More than 1,600 suspended LEDs encased in standard light bulbs are programmed to play a video. Then follow "Nightmare" (The eerie and unexpected vision of a white horse galloping on the Mississippi at night, produced by towing a video screen on the river) as the horse begins its trek.

11 p.m. : We’ll head back over to Minneapolis. There will be 10 art projects on the Stone Arch Bridge, such as "MURMUR," which are select photographs that will be projected in large scale on the Gold Medal Flour silos, and "Ceil," a laser that sweeps across the Mississippi River to create a canopy.

12:30 a.m. : Snack time! There will be food trucks scattered throughout the city and free coffee at Black Dog Cafe .

2 a.m. : We’ll also be dropping by the Walker Art Center , which will have galleries open until 6 a.m. and a lawn full of projects such as "The Shape of Night" (2 a.m.), you can bring your sleeping bag and be documented creating your own special sleeping position.

2 a.m. : Swing by MCAD, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Walker Art Center, the Soap Factory and Soo Visual Arts Center . See listings here .

4 a.m. : Feel the heat at a bonfire in Loring Park .

5:30 a.m. : A pancake breakfast will be served at Intermedia Arts .