Lindsay Renwick

This week, I was inspired by my colleague Richard Tseng’s post offering career resources to new grads getting into advertising. While reading the post, it occurred to me that I have spent time in the past offering advice to young people looking to get into the role of Community Moderator in digital agencies. Rather than sit on the advice and wait for people to come to me, I’ll offer them up in serialized post format to keep things fresh and digestible.

So, here’s the first question:

Q: What are the qualities and qualifications you look for in a Community Moderator?

A: There’s good news here, because this is really the type of job where attitude is often more important than experience. If you’re looking for work in a digital agency, you should expect that educational credentials like a college diploma or university degree will be table stakes for entry. That aside, there are some highly sought-after attitudes you can point out in an interview to increase your consideration:

• You’re a digital native: Do you whip out the smartphone to settle all trivia arguments and tweet your way through your favourite TV shows? If yes, then you’re on the right track.
• You’re smart and funny: If you’re the type of person who can turn up to the wrong party and still make friends, you definitely have an edge. If you can do that in writing, even better.
• You have good judgment: The peacemaker in your group of friends, you don’t fly off the handle over misunderstandings and you know how to apologize gracefully when the situation calls for it.
• You don’t mind working in the background: You’re ok with letting the brand you represent be the star and leave the personal glory-seeking up to the celebs and over-sharers.

If this sounds like you, then you’re probably well-suited to the job.

Stay tuned for follow up posts. These are all based on real questions I have fielded in the past.

1. What’s the typical day in the life of a community moderator?
2. What is the market like for community moderators?
3. Where to begin and whom to speak with?
4. Should I look for freelance or permanent work?
5. Can I work remotely?

Feel free to post any questions on the topic that you’d like to see covered!

Recently, I’ve been pining for the good old days of TV commercials. Remember when advertisers were properly ashamed about promoting “bathroom tissue”? Back when words like “softness” and “squeezability” were the brands’ key value propositions? Boy, in my day, we showed the product in the grocery store where the purchase decision was made, and we loaded that puppy so heavily with euphemisms that you barely knew what was being sold. 

Lately I’ve noticed a distressing trend toward increasingly confessional messaging in TP commercials. And I have to say, I don’t much care for it.

We’ve now moved into the family sphere, the area where the product is actually used. Whether it’s a surgically-sterile bathroom or (God help us) the tree branch belonging to that disgusting, animated, woods-crapping bear family, the TP commercial has invaded our most private spaces. 

All of which would be fine if it weren’t being paired with some of the nastiest problem-centered messaging to come along since the dawn of advertising.

Moms, are your kids’ sensitive regions filled with unsanitary papery bits RIGHT NOW?!

Do I seriously need to be thinking about that between breaks in NCIS? 

Hey folks, we know going to the bathroom can be a serious drag. Don’t forget to “Enjoy the Go.”

What? Is that even for real? Is P&G in the business of commercial-based punking now? Because it’s certainly starting to feel that way. 

Perhaps the worst offender in the gross-out wars is this recent entry from Quilted Northern, the brand that “keeps you clean, while getting you clean.” 

Ladies, are your hands taking a beating from cleaning up your junk?

Are you freaking kidding me right now? I swear by all that I hold sacred, until they start getting less “real about what happens in the bathroom”, I will never buy this product.

And let’s not forget the truly stomach-churning new campaign from our good friends at Cottonelle. Not only are we being urged to keep back up “flushable moist wipes” on hand, AND display them in the bathroom like fancy guest towels, but also to pass along our secret shame by “Get(ting) Fresh With a Friend”! Excuse me, I just threw up a little in my mouth. And then a lot on my carpet.

People, can we please immediately unhook the concept of personal cleanliness from social media marketing? Like yesterday? 

All of these bad apples have combined to make these fashion-based ads from Cashmere brand seem like the lone voice of sanity. Although there is still something deeply unsettling about their tagline, “Nothing feels like Cashmere.” The idea of using an expensive sweater for that sort of personal maintenance seems, at the very least, wasteful, and at worst, highly ineffective.

I can only hope that it’s not too late to put this revolting genie back in the bottle. Marketers, we have a responsibility to fix this. The next time you’re pitching “Big TP” on a new campaign, do us all a favor. Put on your best Don Draper stovepipe suit, pull out the flipcharts and make an impassioned plea for a return to a more genteel form of communication. Let’s take the conversation back out of the bathroom, turn off the microscope and go big picture again. Let’s sell some TP by not making people want to barf every time a commercial comes on. 

It could be the next big thing.

Just got a membership at the West End YMCA and the spin classes are whupping my butt. Love it.

The Nissan Leaf, the first all-electric vehicle in the North American market, opened today for the first 200 orders. HOT!