Tesar-Reynes

I’ve written about Hulu plenty on this site. As a college senior, one without cable, it’s my favorite way to catch all my shows. What started out as a joint venture between NBC Universal and Fox last year has grown into an Internet phenomenon.

Yet, I get the feeling, not many of our readers are aware of it. Hulu is a medium favored by the young and tech savvy. Older X-gen’s probably have never seen the site.

Marketers have been trying to solve the Internet advertising problem for years. Give credit to NBC and Fox for having the gumption to take a stab at it. And, according to an article from today’s Times, …

Eye contact, like the handshake, is absolutely essential to all physical communications, particularly interviews. In my rating system, you can lose just as many points by not looking at me as by having a fishy handshake.

When someone looks at me when I talk to them I feel that they are processing what I am saying. They’re trying to be committed to understanding what I’m talking about. I can also extrapolate that this person will treat other people in a like manner. Also, when someone silently looks me in the eye while I am talking, they are not talking back or interrupting. I feel that most of the processing is going to listening, and not a rebuttal or trying to act smart.

I lose interest when someone is talking to me, and …

I have a big stack of things that I’ve cut out, written down, or saved for future blog posts. When I am not inspired to write, I dive into this stack for some ideas. Thus I found a thought-provoking article in an old issue of Ad Week that I thought was worth commenting on.

The headline was “The Digital Skills Jobseekers Need to Survive Now.” The article describes five personality traits that help contribute in a digital perspective. The first is the hacker, who is capable of going into a site figuring out how it actually works. They may also contribute code to make it better.

The second is the technologically curious, a person who doesn’t write the code, but will nonetheless go into a place and rummage around to figure out how …

In tough times, job cutbacks are inevitable.  Having lived through some myself,  here are some suggestions to keep your job.

1.  Follow the money.

If possible try and work on an account or brand that has relatively consistent spending.  Areas such as health care, manufacturing and certain business services fall into this category.

2. Work for a winner.

There are certain golden people in the office that everyone knows are the stars.  If cutbacks occur, they will not be affected nor will the people who work for them.

3. Get credit for your work.

It is wonderful to be a team player, but make sure that people know what are the individual contributions you have made to the organization.

4. Nurture your network.

Make sure you grow and contact your network of friends, …

I woke up the other night in a cold sweat about the economy and the
consequence for me and my family. This was not the first time and I’m
pretty sure this won’t be the last of these occurrences.

So I’m wide awake and walk down to the basement where my office is located. I have a little ritual for fear spasms like this:

1) The first is to realize that I have survived the downturn of 1970, 1980, 1982, 1990, the Dot Com bust and 9/11.

2) The second is to catalog worst case scenarios for me and my family and the likelihood of any of them happening.

3) The third is to focus on the Serenity Prayer and figure out what I can and can’t control.

4) The fourth is …

“In the old days”, it was really easy to figure out what to wear for work. Not being a fashion plate, I had it all organized. I didn’t have to be really awake. I owned six summer suits and six 3-season suits. All I had to do was grab the suit that was the furthest to the right on the rack. The suit dictated the options for the color of the shirt; they in turn dictated the tie choices.

I think my wardrobe consisted of about 35 dress shirts and maybe 150 ties. It never took any thought. I think I’d looked all right when I walked in the office.

Today, …

Today, my student organization, the Public Relations Student Society of America, had the distinct pleasure of visiting Ketchum’s Chicago office.

Holy cow, am I impressed with the people that work there. What struck me the most was their age and character. The guest speakers we talked to were barely out of college. Every one of them was memorable in some way. Maybe they were funny, or intelligent, or had some great advice or insight for us, but they were all the kind of people you don’t forget about meeting.

At the end of the tour we met a senior partner and Ketchum’s editorial director. They talked about the changing workforce, how the baby boomers were retiring soon, and that as long as you had the drive and …