Creativity, the key to success?

        At terpAMA, we believe that marketing is the art of business. As marketers, we’re never going to be expected to simply plug in numbers or play by the book. Instead, we’re going to need to be innovative and creative in order to succeed. I recently came across Fast Company’s list of the 100 most creative people in business for 2012, and was inspired. The list spans a wide range of people, and highlights some of their most innovative ideas and accomplishments. It stresses the need to take risks and think differently, not only in business, but also in order to make a change in the world.
    There are people from companies that are constantly applauded for their creativity like Facebook, Starbucks, and Nike, but the list also includes musicians, artists, non-profit business owners, and even government institutes. The diversity of industries that Fast Company recognizes adds so much more value to this article. Even though Nike may be a lot more flashy and fun, there are many people thinking outside the box to solve problems, really important problems, in other industries as well. One of my favorites was number twelve, the founders of Voto Latino, Rosario Dawson and Maria Teresa Kumar. They recognized that very low numbers of Latinos we’re voting in elections, and so they engaged Latinos with a mobile marketing strategy that simply reminded young Latinos to vote via text. Through this use of tech in politics, they have been able to reach this demographic of young Latino voters. Not only is it a great marketing strategy, but it is also for a great cause. Other highlights from the list include Ceelo Green, Steven Zeitels (the surgeon who restored Adele’s voice!) and even Shaquielle O’Neal and his social media strategy.

Check out the article and explore it a bit. Learn how they have achieved such great success. Keep it in mind for when you need a bit of inspiration to fix a problem.There is so much we can learn from these leaders in business and so much we can contribute if we continue to search for new solutions and fresher ideas.

Who was your favorite? Are there any you would add to the list? Leave a comment below- we’d love to hear about it!

How to be Productive While Being Unproductive!

Going from the land of free time, the fantastical place separate from the ‘real world’ that students reside for four years, known as college, to the structured, commute-filled, eight-hour work day is not always the easiest. It’s a hard adjustment for anyone when going to bed ‘late’ is now 11PM, the ‘fun’ part of the day is dinner, and social communication takes a heavy decline. No matter where you are working this summer, it sure is hard to think and work that hard for so long. 

Never fear!

Forbes has discovered eight ways that goofing off can make you more productive. No matter who you are or where you are working, it is important you find something(s) that help you take a breather and get ready to focus again. Even vibe with different things throughout the day and spice it up- it’ll even be better in the long run!

Take the time during the day to sit down and eat lunch away from your desk, go say hi to a co-worker (or few!), listen to music, get up and stretch. View these things as healthy and productive ways to work smarter and better. You are not wasting time, rather storing energy for work when the break is over. It’s also a great opportunity to benefit from social interaction and to help each other and the culture within the company. Work should be fun! Discover things that you love to do and set goals to do them once you’ve finished. Even make plans to do with co-workers to break up the day- you’ll be surprised how much better you work and how much happier you are.

Try some or all of these depending on the day and come up with new activities that are enjoyable. A stroll around the office to somewhere you don’t usually go, a short drive with some music, a phone call to a friend from far away, etc. are just some other options for rejuvenating yourself! Work hard; play hard. Have a great summer!

Hawaii Anyone?

Now that it is the summer and we're finally out of school for about 3 months, why not travel? And by travel, I don't mean hop in the car to visit the Baltimore Zoo, or go to Times Square for the 3rd time in a row, how about Hawaii?

I know... heading to Hawaii can be quite difficult.
One, it's far. And two, it can be quite inconvenient.

Well, Hawaiian Airlines has launched a new campaign to negate the possible stereotypes people may have about travel to Hawaii. The campaign is targeting people on the East Coast specifically, an area where only 2.4% of tourists came from. Less than three percent? I think I'd do the same thing the airline was doing. You have highly influential people spending money to travel to anywhere as long as the country is in Europe or Asia, yet only 2.4% of your sales come from this side of the country.

One of the things Hawaiian Airlines has decided to do is open a new route from New York City to Honolulu. This could be big. New York City is a whole different entity on its own. It attracts people from not only New York, but the states surrounding it such as New Jersey, upper Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. New Yorkers lives are so fast paced that Hawaii could be the perfect get away. Not to mention that JFK Airport is the 6th largest airport in the United States according to Listosaur #justsayin.

In this New York promotional campaign, they brought Hawaii to New York. The distributed leis, played traditional Hawaiian music, had hula dancers... the works.

The digital version of the campaign contains "witty and effective copy", nothing like Burger King's Crispy Chicken Commercial.

Because the airline is small compared to American giants such as Southwest, United, Airtran and Delta, Hawaiian Airlines has to be strategic as to which routes they use, and New York may be the best fit. Although, they are on the rise, their marketing campaigns in the last few years being effective to the point that they took out one of their competitors, Aloha Airlines.

For those of you interested in visiting, Hawaiian Airlines offers trips from a few places such as Boston and Raleigh, NC, along with many other choices.
If I could give suggestions of places to add routes, I would definitely add our local IAD (Dulles) and Atlanta's Airport. The airport in Atlanta has the most traffic of all airports in the US, and Dulles is.. Dulles.

Hawaiian Airlines also offers benefits to their flyers such as the FFP (Frequent Flyer Program), online and in store products as well as ways to easily rack up points.

I definitely have wanted to get up and go somewhere, Hawaii being on my list. Knowing that the airline is doing more to give people from all areas of the states the opportunity to visit them will pay off in the long run.

Who is #UncleDrew? Only the Face of a Perfect Social Media Campaign

If you were like millions of Americans on Tuesday night, you watched a great battle between the young and energetic Oklahoma City Thunder and the arch-villain Miami Heat. (hey, that isn't an opinion...the Heat introductions featured Star Wars' 'Imperial March') It also featured exactly what it takes to make a great social media campaign.

If you were paying attention during the commercials, then you noticed Pepsi's "Uncle Drew" campaign. The commercial featured Cleveland Cavalier's young star Kyrie Irving dressing up in professional makeup and quite the impressive grey beard. Essentially, Irivng hustles a bunch of locals at a game of streetball. After initially acting as a feeble old man, he soon starts skying for alley oops and crossing up the other team.

A cool experiment by Pepsi no doubt, but an even more impressive example of the power of social media. While there is no doubt that every company has entered onto Facebook and Twitter, the jury is still somewhat out on how to use these tools effectively. Brilliant examples of social media are well documented (as are the horror stories), but I feel that this #UncleDrew campaign by Pepsi exemplifies exactly what to do. While there is no ultimate formula as to what will work and what will not, there are a few common themes to successful Twitter campaigns/hashtags:

1. Create curiosity and enable the user to take action: This is by far the most important factor...make users seek out an answer to a question that they are genuinely interested in. In this case, it was who dressed up as Uncle Drew.
2. Link the brand to the hashtag while attempting to not sound overly 'corporate': Pepsi was flashed throughout the commercial, but they did not shove it in your face, nor did they create a hashtag like #PepsiCreatesUncleDrew.
3. Don't allow a hashtag to take a negative spin: This is a tricky one and requires a little bit of judgment and experience. Try to think of it this way; put yourself in the shoes of a 'hater' as the kids say these days. How can your campaign be negatively spun. If you cannot think of any logical ways, then you are probably clear.

What other factors do you think influence a hashtag campaign or social media trend?

Communicate with Impact

“It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

Every business professional has heard these words of wisdom at some point in his or her career. We all remember that one professor or friend who seems to drone on and on about one topic or another, but no one can ever remember what that person actually said. To avoid being “that guy”, it's important to remember that impactful communication is about so much more than words.

Whether we notice it or not, the majority of our perception of a message comes from non-verbal communication of the speaker. According to studies on interpersonal communication, researchers have found that the overall understanding of a message is broken down as follows:

Verbal = 7%

Vocal  = 38%

Visual  = 55%

This means that over 90% of our communication is transmitted not by our words, but through our body language, tone of voice, pace of speech, appearance, eye contact, etc. Impactful communication requires clear and specific speaking, the use of visual aids, knowing the audience, and varying tone of voice to stress main points.

Also, one must remember that impactful communication is two-way: it involves both good speaking and good listening. Good listeners keep their focus solely on the person speaking, let the speaker speak without interruption, and ask questions about what is unclear. The best part of being a good listener is that it becomes incredibly easy to learn about the world around you.

From recently entering the working world, I have found that impactful communication is an essential tool for each and every aspiring professional. I constantly communicate with co-workers and supervisors on everything from my opinion on how one of our company's processes to an update on my progress on a project or task. With so much work to do and only a short workday (you’d be surprised how fast a day at work can go), it is actually good business to communicate well. In fact, it can be very costly to communicate poorly. In one case, miscommunication from legislative budget writers cost the state of New Jersey more than $200 million.

After all, wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could all just understand each other?

Best Cities for Employment

With our current economy, we all know how hard and competitive it is to score a job out of college. But, according to Forbes, there is hope for marketing majors wishing to become employed.

The secret? Look for positions in major metro areas…location matters!

Forbes and Indeed.Com have complied a list of the top 15 cities with the highest number of available marketing positions. Unsurprisingly, New York City proves to be your best bet in finding a job. Time Warner, NBC, New York Times, Grey Group, the list of companies in the Big Apple is seemingly endless. There are over 2,000 versatile marketing positions New York employers are trying to fill!

 If you want to have a look into some of the top marketing agencies in NYC, our very own terpAMA goes on the annual SUSA trip to New York every fall! This past year, students in the marketing track got to visit and get an inside scoop on Grey Group, Omnicom Media Group, and Digitas.

Paul Forster, CEO and co founder of Indeed.Com, explains, “ New York is a major hub for the media and advertising industries, which have experienced an explosion of marketing opportunities in emerging media and digital marketing…marketers who possess the new skills employers demand will have greater opportunities.”

If you are hoping to stay local, Washington, D.C. also makes the top 15 list. Some great marketing agencies around here include The Borenstein Group, RTCRM, Fixation Marketing, & Redhead Advertising.

While job searching in whatever city, just remember to stay persistent and never give up! Soon enough, you will land that dream job of yours.  

Obama Spends Big Bucks for Online Advertising

In an effort to triumph the political battleground, Barack Obama has spent a record breaking amount on online advertising. Obama spent spent nearly $19 million since the launch of his presidential campaign in 2011 through March 2012 (CNN). Unofficial Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Obama's opponent has only spent a little over $5 million in the same time (ClickZ). In fact, Obama has spent twice as much as the Republican National Committee and all of the GOP presidential hopefuls combined (ClickZ).

Experts applaud Obama's online presence for targeting specific voters. Furthermore, online advertising is one of the best ways to gauge level of success by tabulating number of hits and duration of time spent on a specific ad. Digital advertising will allow Obama to direct his message to specific groups, such as Hispanics and Catholics, and swing states that have historically swayed between parties.

One of Obama's current (and most creative) digital campaigns is his "Pet Lovers for Obama" ad and associated Facebook page. Users can go like the page and submit photos of their beloved critters rocking Obama collars and gear. As of June, the page has over 33,000 likes and countless photo uploads and comments. Obama's marketing strategists garner quintessential user interaction with the people through this digital media. Further, Obama strikes an emotional connection with voters by sharing his love for his pet as the same love you have for yours.

Both presidential candidates use television and print advertisements as well, but as the world becomes ever so virtual, so does the political arena. Watch out for more digital marketing as the presidential race begins to heat up in the upcoming months!

To learn more about the candidate's use of digital advertising and overall marketing specifics, please
go to: CNN Obama outspends Romney on online ads

How to Heat Up Your LinkedIn Profile

“As of March 31, 2012, LinkedIn counts executives from all 2011 Fortune 500 companies as members; its corporate hiring solutions are used by 82 of the Fortune 100 companies, with 2 new professional members added every second.”

Yes, having a LinkedIn profile is important for job/internship acquirement, but maintaining it is key. One of the most important ways you can “heat up” your LinkedIn profile is to add a profile picture! This may seem silly, but according to eye-tracking Heatmap testing, looks are the most important thing on your LinkedIn profile. According to a particular heatmap study, employers spend 19% of their time looking at your profile picture when they are looking at your profile as a whole.

So, what if I choose not to include a profile picture? What does this mean to employers? According to, Miriam Salpeter at U.S. News & World Report, not having a photo on your LinkedIn profile will make others assume that you're either "really ugly" or "don't know how to upload a picture." Personally, I believe that not having a photo portrays laziness because you may not feel like finding an adequate/appropriate photo. To ease frustration, Miriam offers tips on how to choose a photo by encouraging the use of current, close-up pictures of your face, posting a high-quality photo, and paying attention to background. She also advises against dramatic photos and large jewelry or accessories. Some of my own suggestions for profile pictures include looking professional/serious through your clothing choice and to stay away from photos with yourself and another person. Employers want to see who YOU are!

Of course, you still need to have appropriate and compelling content. Yes, your profile picture holds 19% of importance, but what about the other 81%? It is advised to update the “skill” section of your profile because employers are using LinkedIn to find skills and qualifications that are difficult to obtain. We all know that our profiles are simply “scanned” rather than “scrutinized” so include skills and accomplishments that are highly relevant to your field of work. On that note, turn up the heat!