Agency (Viral) Video Competition

My agency is hosting a competition. A competition to come up with a video that has potential to go viral. There are eight offices and only one prize. You know I'm going to try and win this. It's just my nature to compete.

To compete, you are required to develop a video three minutes or less, focusing on a charity of your choice. The only thing is you must include our agency's website and a provided end card. The strategy is pretty wide open, drive people to help.

This weekend I spent concepting an idea, getting all the supplies and finalizing the storyboards. It really took me back to Grad School when we were competing to be accepted into the program.

Making a video that "goes viral" is not easy. It's like guerrilla marketing, it could be wildly successful or it could fall on it's face. Here are some things that help a video go viral:

1. Connect with the viewers - People are more likely to share something they can relate too. People in the midwest and east coast are going to relate more to a video that has someone stuck upside down in the snow than someone in the southwest.
   
2. Evoke an emotion - It doesn't matter which one, but some of the best to work from are happy (funny or feel good), anger (expose something bad that people don't know about) or impressed (something that is just too good to not share).
   
3. Be easy to share - This is probably the most obvious. Provide quick share buttons because if you don't the next button they will probably choose will be the close button. 

Basically everything you do for this video is a calculated risk. That's why you have to commit. Go big or go home. Be willing to embarrass yourself or be willing to do something that people are going to remember and talk about.

And at the end of the day, have a lot of fun.

Imma Grow Me Some Food

It's about that time! Spring is coming and that means it's time to get my seedlings started. My last name is George which means Farmer, I feel this innate need to grow things from the Earth. I think it's just in my blood.

One thing my family does is make our own salsa. It's so much better than anything you buy in the supermarket. This year I want to expand beyond tomatoes and peppers to include lettuce, corn (my Iowan roots) and watermelon.

To start my seedlings I always let them germinate in a ziploc bag. If I don't do that, I always loose them in the soil and it's an epic fail. It takes me back to elementary school when you put the lima beans in the bag and let them sprout.

Once these sprout I will transfer them to smaller pots until they are healthy enough to be transplanted into the garden.

Heart Month: Foods For Your ♥

Since February is heart month, I started looking around for heart heathly foods in hopes of adding in some new nutrition to my diet. I came across a great list on Reader's Digest and I chose my three favorites. Ironically I can call them the ABC ♥ foods. Here  they are:

via mynameisharsha

"...B vitamins and magnesium help produce serotonin, which helps regulate mood. Zinc has also been shown to fight some negative effects of stress, while vitamin E is an antioxidant that destroys the free radicals related to stress and heart disease..." 
Read more

via  Jeff Kubina 

"...these blue-hued beauties work overtime to provide you with antioxidants and vitamin C, both potent stress busters...Blueberries are also a good source of fiber, which can help relieve the cramps and constipation that can occur when you're stressed out..."
Read more

via peter pearson

"...researchers at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, showed that eating 6 ounces of dark chocolate a day lowered bad cholesterol...another researcher found that cocoa contains phenols — antiseptic, anti-inflammatory compounds that reduce your risk of heart disease by keeping fat-like substances from oxidizing in the blood and clogging your arteries." 

Read more

Best food I found out that is heart healthy is CHOCOLATE . . . Duh. Get healthy this February for heart month.

Super Bowl Review

First of all, thank you Seattle for making my prop bets legit.

Now, let's get to the commercials. There are always the best and the worst of the Super Bowl but since I almost crashed my blog last year by uploading all the commercials I decided to make up my own categories of winners.

BEST COMMERCIAL - #bestbuds by Budweiser and Anomaly
I'm a dog lover, but this commercial makes me a sappy dog lover EVERY TIME. Fucking amazing job guys this is amazing.



WORST COMMERCIAL - Hum by Heinz & Cramer-Krasselt
Why would you ever promote the most annoying thing about your product?! WHY?!



WEIRDEST COMMERCIAL - Doberhuahua by Audi & Venables
This is definitely the weirdest commercial, but not in a bad way! I remember playing softball against Venables and they were always a little off (in the best way).



FEEL GOOD COMMERCIAL - Deaf Player by Duracell & Saatchi NY
This commercial just makes you want to go out and conquer the world.



MOST CONTROVERSIAL - America the Beautiful by Coke & W+K
I'm amazed at how many people think because America the Beautiful is not sung completely in English that it is bad. Yes, you are correct. Our official language is English . . . that doesn't mean people can't speak other languages! Wow. Ridiculous. Good job Coke, the ad is beautifully done.



SEX SELLS COMMERCIAL - Big Game Tease by Oikos & Y&R NY
Wow. John Stamos you still have it. That is all.



BEST DORITO COMMERCIAL - Time Machine by Raj Suri
This spot deserves to win. It's cute, funny and doesn't include raunch. Give 'Em the $1M!



FUCKING AWESOME COMMERCIAL - Come On Bring On the Toys by GoldieBlox & RPA
I love GoldieBlox. They are doing something that is awesome. They are providing toys to girls that start to get them to think cognitively. LOVE IT. #FuckYouBeastieBoys



BEST SUCK IT BITCHES COMMERCIAL - Just Checking by Cheerios & Saatchi NY
Thank you Cheerios for having the balls to run this commercial again. Love this family.



NON SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL - If We Made It by Newcastle & Droga5
This is probably the best way to not spend millions of dollars in media and still reap the benefits. I'm in Newcastle.

Staying Healthy After January

My grandmother still gets the physical newspaper. While some might say you can get the paper online, there is no need for the physical printed piece, I disagree to some extent. Yes, it probably could be printed with more eco friendly paper or inks.

I sit behind a monitor all day and am flooded with articles left and right from Facebook, Twitter and yes, gasp, Google+. I miss so much because one simply can not digest that much information.

The articles I see, read and focus on are the stories my grandmother shares with me from the newspaper. This is because the printed newspaper is on my terms and fits the way I live my life when I'm not at work. It's portable, doesn't strain my eyes after 12 hours of screen time and doesn't require a wifi connection. This makes it ideal to throw in my bag to read in airports that make you pay for internet (which should be illegal) and doesn't add to your cancer risk.

This morning as I was eating my Shredded Mini Wheats (they taste so good), I saw that my grandfather had left me a new article (that's old school sharing, before the internet). The article is about how everyone has the best of intentions of staying/getting healthy in the new year, though right about this time, everyone starts to slip back into old habits.

What I absolutely love about this article is that it isn't about doing a juice cleanse or eating only cabbage for the rest of your life. It reminds you to focus on why you are eating, when and how much you are moving and how it will help you professionally.

If you have five minutes take them and glance over the article quickly. It might just push you to keep going on those new year resolutions. Click here to read the article.

Boxer on a Trampoline

Some days you just need a good video to lift your spirits. Today was one of those days. Introducing one, if not my number one, of my favorite make me happy you tube videos.

Also, if you are seeing this around SuperBowl 2014, the Budweiser Puppy Love Commercial precedes the video. WATCH THE COMMERCIAL. It is so good, struck a chord with this puppy lover.

UPDATE 9AM: I found the commercial online, and have placed it below the Boxer Trampoline. Enjoy and get some tissues!

Color Run 2014

This was my third Color Run! WHEE! I love it because while I do other runs for breast cancer, heart health and the memory of Pat Tillman, this race is about being happy. It's is about having fun and getting ridiculously messy with your friends.

I had the pleasure of spending my morning with some co-workers: Ana, Amy, Mo, Jenn, Jen and her daughter Ashley. We did our thing, got some free swag and then went and had the most amazing breakfast at Devil's Diner. It's is the smallest crack in the wall place, but those men make a mean ass breakfast burrito.

Greek Life Embarrasses Arizona State Again

I spent this weekend watching movies on various networks that took us back in time to the civil rights. Movies like Remember the Titans, The Help, We Are Marshall and others. Even though they are movies, I am grateful I didn't live during a time like that. If I did, I really hope I would have been like Skeeter in The Help.

Then fast forward 60 years, you think we are doing well, making progress. Then you realize we haven't made as much progress as we should have. My alma mater, Arizona State University, is still allowing frats/sororities to behave poorly and in complete bad taste.

One thing I love about ASU; MLK Day is HUGE on campus. There is an entire week to celebrate a man who gave his life to pursue equal rights for everyone. The communication college has a competition to come up with a positivity campaign and the winner gets plastered all around campus.

I agree, young people make mistakes. They are stupid. Though in this day and age with social media and the internet, you can't afford to be stupid.

Working in advertising has taught me a lot about the power of social media. I've watched brands muddle through social media like a cow calf that has just been born and is trying to walk. I've seen brands get schooled by pissed off employees and I've seen employees ruin their careers in 140 characters.

For example, @Ediemer deleted her instagram account and someone swooped up the username and has reposted the black party photos. The instagram account is now getting threats in the comments because people are too ignorant to realize it's now a fake account. This could now ruin her reputation even farther.

I could say that I hope they learn from their experiences, though greek life behaved like this when I was in college and way before that. Sadly, they are like big corporations and have too much money behind them for the university to actually do anything.

Photos of the Week

This week was packed full of good little nuggets, here are some of my favorites!

Leroy thought that he desperately needed the ENTIRE block of cheese.

Spent the last weekend in Detroit working on The Tomboy Project.

Got this really cool bike bell from Optimus Santa Monica. I love these people. They create great work and are great friends.

My ping pong partner is flipping me off. Thanks AJ.

Flying home on the Shamu Southwest plane!! Love Arizona.

Miss Phoenix & Cave Creek Sponsor Ad

Our wonderful Gerald hosted the Miss Phoenix/Cave Creek pagaent this last weekend. I am sad I had to miss it, Gerald is extremely entertaining. I got to participate a bit though.  The agency did an ad for the program to support Gerald and also to obviously get the name out there. #shamelessplug

Pictures of the Week

Follow me on Instagram to see more.

Celebrating Danita's Birthday 

Bought a shit load of fabric with my mama to make some new quilts.  

Saw this really fun quote in a coffee shop.  

Left early enough to see the sunrise. 

Got to do some hand lettering.

Corner Reading

Every Thursday I am determined to carve out some personal improvement time. This can be whatever I want including reading, a walk, some ping pong etc.

This week I decided to dive into an Ad Age magazine; The Opinion Issue.

Overall decent, though there were some articles I absolutely loved. Click the headline below to read the full article.

How to Stop Mismanaging Your Brands

I like this article because it really touches the heart of the problem. So many people don't understand that a brand is worth something. This is why it is so important to do things right the first time out of the gate, then continue to do it as the company grows. I know that you are super excited that you designed the logo yourself in paint or your best friend's son who is in high school will do it for free. Save yourself and your company by hiring someone who actually knows what they are doing. 

"That said, neglecting a brand is both naive and shortsighted. In some ways, branding is a victim of semantics; call it "reputation" and nobody in the C-suite would ever argue that it's anything less than critical. Corporations intuitively understand Will Rogers' quip: "It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute." But management teams commonly underachieve in the application of reputation-management best practices -- in a word, branding."

Why Women Are Uniquely Suited to Lead the Ad Industry Into the Future

I love that there is a whole pack of women that are wanting more women at the top with them. There are women demanding to be in the C Suite. They are able to juggle, manage and do it all. This is a great quick read on the relation of women and millennials. 

"They often ask why simple things are so complicated. Technology has provided instantaneous answers and solutions for millennials, reducing their patience for doing the same thing the same way twice. They want to work smarter, not harder. For this reason, managers should be flexible, responsive and open to change from the "clubby" rules that dominate corporate leadership. Women have had decades of experience changing the rules of the game and challenging conventions in fields where they used to be the minority."

Three Strategies to Improve Agency-Client Relationships in '14

The only strategy I really liked in this article was the first one talking about talent. It really hits the nail on the head for me. When our parents were children they had to purchase and comb through encyclopedias to get the knowledge Google gives us instantaneously. I'm not saying younger people are smarter, I'm saying they know how to obtain knowledge faster. They don't have to rely on someone for answers, they can go out, get them themselves or create something new from the start. 

"Survey after survey tells us that employees under 35 are largely unhappy. Not because we don't pay them enough (although starting salaries are still an issue), but because they want to contribute and we're not letting them. We have to realize that millennials have been creating content for most of their lives. Be it videos, photos, song lyrics or drawings, they are used to sharing and receiving immediate feedback. Agency structures don't encourage or celebrate that kind of contribution from the start."

A 13 year old just recently delivered a TED Talk about education that I think relates really well to this exact topic. Watch the video of this young man who is living, learning and schooling me.

2014 Motivation

The agency's managing director reads Linkedin articles as much as I do. He recently came across one that had some really fun and motivational quotes. Naturally he wanted to share them with the office by having them printed large and hung. The only problem with that is the images were 72dpi at 8 in². 

Being the wonderful creatives we are, we recreated them with our own layouts and made them our own. I thought this was such a great opportunity to do some hand lettering. We don't get to do it a lot for our clients, it wouldn't fit their brand the way that it should to be successful. 

I started with a brand new beautiful PrismaColor Turquoise 2B pencil and busted out the sharpener, which I then proceeded to drop on the floor and spread pencil shavings every where. Womp. Womp. Once that was picked up to the best of my ability, I dove in. 

There's nothing better than a little graphite, white rubber eraser, light box and ruler. So many beautiful letters come from such simplicity. 

One with Nature

I live on the outskirts of the city in the desert. With this comes animals of all kinds, and my curiosity to know what I am sharing my home and neighborhood with.

As I approach my second anniversary in my home I have seen a

Desert Spiny Lizard

via http://faculty.ucr.edu/~chappell/INW/herps/DSL.shtml | Photo by Mark Chappell

Gila Woodpecker 

 

via http://sabinocanyonnaturalist.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html | Photo by Ned Harris

and now! A pack of Javelina 

via http://gwenhernandez.com/tag/javelina/ | Photo by Gwen Hernandez

It's always cool to see animals in the wild. They are seriously beautiful. I love javelina. It's important to remember to NEVER feed them. It leads to them (and more) consistantly coming back into your neighborhood. You could get injured and they would most likely be killed. No one wants that. 

My New Year Resolution: 2014

via pinterest.com

Yesterday I posted about 2013 and the things I had done. Today I want to establish the things I want to do in 2014. This year instead of adding more things to my plate, I will be trying to remove things.

I realize I get to a place where everything is pretty well balanced and then get bored. I start to pile on things, and more things, and then even more things until I'm completely sleep deprived and miserable.

Where does that leave me in 2014? My goal, or resolution, is to be more focused and driven to complete things that interest me and can boost my experiences in life. These come through family, work and general real world experiences.

For these things to happen, I realize I need to become more efficient at work. That is where most of my life is eaten up. I work 60-80 hour weeks pretty consistently. As a creative, becoming more efficient isn't really that easy. Though I know the things I need to do to be more creative and get the ideas to come easier. I just need to do them.

You always see those articles about Things Successful People Accomplish in the Morning or before 8AM or whatever title it is that they are slinging that week. Though, when I was in grad school I was up at the butt crack of dawn and got so much accomplished. While I probably won't stand on my head and drink coffee through a straw while humming an Irish Jig, there are some things I would like to do, for me, first thing in the morning.

1. Get eight hours of sleep a night. 
2. Wake up early and go exercise. 
3. Eat breakfast.
4. Map out my day with only four tasks. It is easier to tackle a shorter list and you will feel less overwhelmed. 
5. Make my day top heavy. I am a procrastinator. Though of my four things to do, I will do the least favorable item first. I will. I will. 

2013 All Wrapped Up

I am more excited for 2014 than I was for 2013. Not really sure why, maybe I'm a nerd and just like even numbers better. 

Though, I had a pretty good year in 2013. It was more of a maintenance year. 

• I continue to work on my house. I've been in it for almost two years now and am still moving furniture around. I just can't get it right. 
• I started doing calligraphy and sign painting. It's still too early to know if it's going to work out but there will be a new website on the horizon. GEOOORGE.CO will house my work for sale. AHH!!
• Leroy got a year older and celebrated his birthday to a Curious George theme. He's becoming more calm though still behaves like a puppy and I wouldn't want it any other way. 
• The billboard I've been working on for an entire year finally got put up. It's 215 feet wide in the Legends Entertainment District in Downtown Phoenix. 
• I made my first quilt! There are more to come. 

Here are some of the highlights from my some of my family, friends and coworkers:

• Babies - Four of my friends brought life into this world. Three girls and one little man.
• Marriages - Three of my co-workers got married. Not to each other.
• Cars - There were ten new car purchases in our office. Whew!
• Houses - Two co-workers purchased new homes. 
• Pets - Little bundles of furr. . . there were five.

Tomboy Project Update

I recently posted pictures on Facebook from my September romp around the midwest and a quick 3-day weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. Coming soon are photos from North Carolina and Georgia. CHECK IT OUT HERE.

I'm currently looking for tomboys in Michigan and New England. If you know of anyone, please send them my way.

It's hard to believe I've come this far and it wouldn't be even close to possible without the people who have stepped in to participate, recommend someone or let me crash on their couch.

We are almost there. We are almost finished.

I recently received some questions that I wanted to address here as well.

Q: What happens when you finish traveling? 
A: After visiting all the states and meeting with all the tomboys I will begin to sift through all the photos finding the appropriate ones for the book. I will also begin the edit all of my notes, doodles and stories I was privileged enough to hear along the way.

Q: Will you photoshop your photos? 
A: I will correct color and make the photo the best it can be, though I will never photoshop one of my tomboys. I am proud of the women I have photographed and they are beautiful the way they are.

Q: How are you funding this project? 
A: This is probably my most asked question. The project is completely self-funded. I pay for the airline tickets, the rental cars, the gas, the hotel room, the food etc. etc. etc. I use my vacation and holiday time from my day job to travel to the different states. Though when it comes to getting the book published, I want to do a Kickstarter project because I feel it is really symbolic of everyone bringing the final project together. If you are interested in donating money, there will be more information on the Kickstarter project at the end of 2014.

I love getting questions and getting more and more people involved in the project. If you have any more questions, you can email me or just post them in the comments! Here's to 2014.

Photos of the Week

A few photos from the week.

Leroy found a new friend at the dog park.

He almost took the mount off the wall trying to get this.

My Gram. She's always been such a classy lady.

Seriously love the sunsets in this neighborhood.

Leroy did not want me moving his favorite chair.

Merry Christmas!!

There are so many things I want to share from this holiday season, though one of my favorite has to be a combination of my friend Frank's birthday, Smitty being pregnant and Roo's first Christmas. That is pretty much the entire year wrapped up in one family and packed into one giant box I shipped to Austin.

What the hell am I talking about? One quilt and four bibs. See, my mother and I had planned on making this quilt from the time we heard Smitty was pregnant. We started off on a roll. We knew we wanted to design something around Frank being a firefighter and choose fabrics that fit in what I knew about Smitty's style. We finished the design and purchased the fabric. We even ordered specialty teddy bear firefighting fabric from across the country.

Things got super busy as usual. Smitty had Roo and she's basically in college now. Then we got an email from Smitty. She was doing a project for Frank's 30th birthday. Frank is like Mother Teresa in a petite Texan body, she cares about others and does so much to help make the world a better place. The project was to get all of Frank's friend to do one act of kindness for someone else and then tell the story so it could be put into a book.

BINGO, perfect timing to finish the quilt and bibs. I knew it was cheating because it wasn't for someone else, but it was something I was really wanting to do for their family. I finished the bibs and submitted those as my story. I kept the quilt a secret.

I shipped the box out filled with trinkets, bibs, the quilt and a butt load of confetti. Sorry ladies, I couldn't resist.

Below are some pictures of the quilt in process and the final one is the Rooster taking it for a test drive. I think she likes it.

Merry Christmas!

Piecing the top together.

Stitch the ditch!

Make sure everything lines up!

Lots of stitching the ditch.

Pining the edges. Lots of pins, lots of pokes.

See the fire helmet?

Finished top.

Finished back.

I think she likes it!

My mom and I are working on two more quilts that will be available shortly. Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks!

Ballet Arizona and the Nutcracker

I didn't plan on going to the Nutcracker last night. Originally, I was supposed to go to the ballet with April and Stuart. One night about a month ago, April is trying and pushing to get me to purchase tickets. I finally gave in after getting an email from Ballet AZ saying the Nutcracker is 50% off the same night April wants me to go. 

I ask her where they are sitting, Section C she tells me. I keep looking and looking for Section C in Symphony Hall, can't find it. I see section 1, 2 and 3 . . . but no letters. Finally, I think she's just sleep deprived and telling me things because it's about 3AM at this point. I go ahead and purchase tickets close to Section 3. For me, I think C, 3 . . . same thing. 

I get to work the next morning, tell her I got tickets and she asked me where I am sitting. I tell her and she's really confused. We go back and forth for a minute and something just isn't sitting well with me. I then proceed to ask her what ballet she's going to.

THE RUSSIAN BALLET! Why she didn't tell me or I didn't ask is completely beyond me. We bought tickets to two completely different ballets. Who knew Phoenix was that culturally down to have two ballets. 

In the end it worked out because of our ADDY extension I ended up at Mingle Bells the night we were supposed to go and I moved my ticket to last night. 

The ballet I went to was incredibly funny and beautifully performed. The sugar plum fairy and man fairy were spectacular. Their lines, jumps and turns were on lock. There was a point in the ballet where their duo was so spectacularly executed I thought the audience was going to give them a standing ovation in the middle of the show. 

Then there is this Queen of Hearts character that is totally a Drag Queen. AMAZING. That's all. 

It was cool seeing and recognizing some of the dancers from Cinderella in their new rolls. If you have the chance to go and see the ballet, you should go. I highly recommend them.