Tesar-Reynes

We are still in a period where there is an amazing amount of transition. The market is changing as is the consumer. Clients large and small are continuing to test what works and what doesn’t. They thirst for insight.

As this trail continues, once-trusted suppliers fall by the wayside if they do not contribute to the understanding of the future. This means that agencies have to be truly committed to helping their clients through this tough period. It is one of the few times in a client-agency relationship where firms a have a chance to stand out to the client’s corner office and really make a difference.

In some regards, this is not a new investment or a new initiative, but rather a re-commitment to reading the signs that are out there everyday. The winner is the resource that observes, assimilates …

I was interviewing a very successful lady who had an outstanding resume but was out of work for five months. Her husband was just laid off three weeks ago. As we talked about the lack of potential jobs out there for either of them, she became increasingly agitated. At one point there was a tear in the corner of her eye.

I tried to lighten the conversation and get her on a more positive note. I flashed back and remembered the feeling when I was out of work and the checking account was getting dangerously close to zero. I remember the desperation, fear and isolation that set in.

From my point of view, the worst thing to deal with is the sense of helplessness and of being alone. When I started thinking about the sense of isolation, …

Flipping through the Chicago Tribune this week, I stumbled on a headline that immediately caught my attention. “Chicago lawyer with $225,000 in debt has reason to hope.”

Hope eludes most of us these days. As part of my daily intern duties, I flip through the headlines of the Trib and Journal every morning. News of a stumbling economy and growing unemployment dominate headlines. The cycle overwhelms this green-behind the ears PR wannabe who thought he’d have the world at his fingertips, newly armed with his Bachelors degree.

How naïve I must seem. The 29 year-old lawyer mentioned in the article, Aukse Rimas, owns more debt then I can imagine and makes twice as much as me. The piece presents a simple point – Though she’s deep in debt, …