Lindsay Renwick

Fill in the Blanks Friday

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:04:05 -0400

I found out about this from my pal Keltie, and I think it’s a fun and easy way to set goals.

The best news I ever received was: “I won’t need chemo.”
Something I’m looking forward to is: shopping for houses in the fall.
Something I would never do is: say never. Even about the helicopers.
If I could choose someone to be my life coach (famous or not, living or dead), I’d choose: Kenny Powers.
If I had to put a label on my style it would be: Grown-Ass Woman.
One should always: respect reality.
I want to: eat a gelato, so… later.

Fill in the Blanks Friday

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:04:05 -0400

I found out about this from my pal Keltie, and I think it’s a fun and easy way to set goals.

1. The best news I ever received was: “I won’t need chemo.”

2. Something I’m looking forward to is: shopping for houses in the fall.
3. Something I would never do is: say never. Even about the helicopers.
4. If I could choose someone to be my life coach (famous or not, living or dead), I’d choose: Kenny Powers.

5. If I had to put a label on my style it would be: Grown-Ass Woman.
6. One should always: respect reality.

7. I want to: eat a gelato, so… later.

Retro Ads: Now Magazine, April 1985. Featuring the names of...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:00:05 -0400

Retro Ads: Now Magazine, April 1985. Featuring the names of dance clubs and clothing stores that only existed for me in CFNY commercials.

Line drawing a man in pointy clothes really is a lost art.

How does Venice work? Amazing engineering keeps the city afloat.

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:00:07 -0400

How does Venice work? Amazing engineering keeps the city afloat.

Toronto dance party video! I think my favourite part is the...

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:30:06 -0400

Toronto dance party video! I think my favourite part is the finale in the bird barn at Riverdale Farm.

Olde Tymey advertisements - my favourite subject! In this...

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:43:00 -0400

Olde Tymey advertisements - my favourite subject! In this installment, all the ads are taken from the March 24, 1972 edition of Life Magazine. In case you weren’t absolutely sure that life in the 70s was awesome, here’s all you need to know: fully 20% of the pages were ads for either whiskey or cigarettes or both. The rest were for muscle cars and dandruff shampoo.

CERN, make with the time machines already.

Open Letter from Steely Dan to Luke Wilson

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:00:07 -0400

Open Letter from Steely Dan to Luke Wilson:

If you follow my Twitter, you’ll know that I’m experiencing a personal Yacht Rock renaissance right now. In an effort to get What a Fool Believes out of my head, a colleague recommended a stretch of Steely Dan songs. She also sent along this amazing missive from Don and Walt to Luke Wilson, penned after Owen Wilson made the unbelievable terrible You, Me & Dupree.

It reads like a couple of bumbling mobsters sat down on a Californian beach in 1978, took a handful of Quaaludes and wrote history’s most half-hearted shakedown letter.

I think this is especially poignant since it came at the end of...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:37:53 -0400

I think this is especially poignant since it came at the end of a visit to Mandarin, in those magical moments when feelings of sublime repletion turn inevitably to self loathing.

As any social media worker knows, some days the trolls just come...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:14:12 -0500

As any social media worker knows, some days the trolls just come out of the woodwork. Keep your heads up out there. :)

Is Community Moderator the right job for you? Part 2

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:00:06 -0500

Last week, I posted on the qualities and qualifications digital agencies look for when hiring a community moderator. Here’s Part 2 in the series, answering the burning question:

What does a typical day in the life of a community moderator look like?

I do sort of wish this had a “typical” answer. Probably the best way to give you this info is to break it out by activity. Most community managers are responsible for the following:

Content curation

Using web-based tools to search for appropriate links and information to bring to the attention of the community.

A few free content curation tools: Google Alerts, Google Reader

Building community

Seeking out individuals who are discussing the brand or topic elsewhere and bringing them into your community, interacting with existing members in a way that deepens their engagement.

A few free community building tools: Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Searchtastic

Speaking in the brand voice

Developing and abiding by style guides, putting all information into the brand’s context before sharing.

Client services

Community Moderators often have responsibility for clearing content through client stakeholders, so some experience interacting with clients comes in very handy.

Keeping up to date on platform developments

When you use social media properties like Twitter or Facebook for a living, you get into the habit of keeping up to date on all their updates and what planned changes mean for you as a moderator and for the community of users.

A few free platform information news sites: AllFacebook, Mashable, Social Media Examiner
A few official platform development blogs: The Facebook Blog, Twitter Blog, Flickr Blog, Broadcasting Ourselves: The Official YouTube Blog

And the fun part:

Interacting with members of the community

Actually hosting the party: answering questions, directing people to information, laughing along with their jokes, thanking people for participating, managing trolls and misinformation and generally having a great time.

That’s it for now, stay tuned for upcoming questions that will help you better understand the role and hopefully land that community moderator job you’ve got your eye on.

Next up:

What is the market like for community moderators?
Where to begin and whom to speak with?
Should I look for freelance or permanent work?
Can I work remotely?

Send me any questions you want to see covered and if you are a community moderator, feel free to chime in with all the activities I missed (because I know there’s no stopping you ;).

Snow in the Nevada Rockies.

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:12:11 -0500

Snow in the Nevada Rockies.

Is Community Moderator the right job for you?

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:53:59 -0500

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.

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

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

derek-watson: Royal Winter Fair 2010 That’s a lot of...

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:47:11 -0500

derek-watson:

Royal Winter Fair 2010

That’s a lot of ungulates.

The only thing I love more than Halloween is olde tymey...

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:23:00 -0400

The only thing I love more than Halloween is olde tymey advertising! Here are some great examples of both from the October 1953 issue of Life Magazine.

Thanks to Samira from Candy Professor for the hot tip.

"I think being a judgmental bitch is WAY more disgusting than overeating."

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 23:04:00 -0400

“I think being a judgmental bitch is WAY more disgusting than overeating.”

- Quote from the comment section on one of the rudest pieces of fat bias I have ever seen, from this month’s Marie Claire magazine. Good job on their community for taking them to task so thoroughly.

Too Much Real Talk About TP

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 12:48:59 -0400

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.

I'm a Y kinda lady

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:37:07 -0400

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

I realized yesterday, while playing The Wilderness Downtown with...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:00:00 -0400

I realized yesterday, while playing The Wilderness Downtown with every house I’ve ever lived in, that while Apple spent the day offering music from 10 years ago and hardware that slightly simplifies processes that already exist, Google just snuck in through the backdoor with the hottest album in town and tech that is building the future.

Advantage: Google.

"So.. $99 for the privilege of puchasing all my movies and TV shows from Apple, which will only play..."

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:27:57 -0400

“So.. $99 for the privilege of puchasing all my movies and TV shows from Apple, which will only play on Apple hardware… WHERE DO I SIGN?!!”

- Twitter

This is so cool

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:12:00 -0400

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