Cheers to a great 14th year- get ready for 2008!!!
--Diane
Since over 300 people attended this event, it was great to be a recruiter from Organic because there were a whole bunch of people with key positions at competing agencies that we had interviewed or are in the process of interviewing! The interesting part was finding a creative way to say hello to them without spilling the beans. The head nod was the most common greeting we received. Well, that and the secret Organic handshake every candidate learns.
The award ceremony was great and it was also a great opportunity to see who is doing award winning work in The D. Thank you to all the Organics who attended: Sam Cannon, Scott Lange, Dan Sicko, Adam Wilson, Kevin McElroy, Chuck Sullivan, Chris D’Alessandro, Heather Krentler and Alan Robertson.
Oh...and the answer to the question? Six bucks can buy you a can of Diet Coke at The D Show.
Diet Coke (center) enjoys the D Show accompanied by two glasses.The other day as I was sitting in the office looking at all the white stuff coming down outside. Then, I got an IM from a team member on vacation. Yes, we are such a tight knit team that even on vacation we are concerned about what’s going on in the DAA department! As he boasted about enjoying his drink outside in the sunny 85° (Naples) Florida weather; I got an idea. We work really hard during launch in the DAA department. So when we have a little spare time we love to have fun together. So, we thought it would be fun to play a little prank on our beloved Dylan Wren who is fairly new to DAA. A trip to the dollar store and 7 rolls of aluminum foil, we had what we call DAA Foil art :) So, we went a step further...since Dylan is an early bird the boss called and told him security was working on the key card system and he wouldn’t be able to get into the building until 9:30am ....that way we can all enjoy the look on his face when he sees his work area.
It cost $7 and my lunch hour, but the look on his face...priceless!
Angela
How does Organic find exceptional talent across our office network? With multiple parties of course! New York invited digital talent to meet us for fun and drinks at Level V in Manhattan and over 50 candidates attended. The theme of our event was Organic’s 14th birthday. Networking leaders in the office mingled with candidates and our very own Millie Sensat, ACD for the NY office, provided the music for the evening. The guests enjoyed blue and green branded martinis and cupcakes. We toasted our past achievements and met with great talent to lead us into the future. This is just one of many events Organic’s talent acquisition team is producing to meet new talent and give them an understanding of what the Organic brand is all about. To learn about more upcoming events, please visit our "On the Road" page at Organic.com.
Carrie
This past weekend Organic sponsored the very first Michigan Flash Festival on the campus of Schoolcraft College. In attendance were over 100 local developers and students, as well as large delegations from the area's three Adobe user groups (SEMAFX, Detroit Adobe Usergroup and Flash Focused). We spoke to quite a few very talented designers and developers, I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few future Organics were in attendance.
We delivered the keynote on utilizing Flash to pull together pieces of functionality from divergent technologies. From conversations I had during and after the conference, it is clear we are being looked up to as a leader in spreading Flash content to newly emerging platforms. With the continual release of embedded Flash systems, like the Chumby and mobile phones, it appears that we'll have more opportunities in the near future to show off our Flash chops outside of the browser.
Slides from my talk are up at:
http://www.slideshare.net/jamesv/flash-as-bondo/
James
PAINT ‘EM, CLOTHE THEM, CUT ‘EM, MARKER ‘EM, JUST MAKE IT YOUR OWN CREATION and then the whole office votes.
This year the categories were:
UGLIEST - For the ugliest gourd
FUNNIEST - For the funniest gourd
BEST OVERALL - Reserved for the best gourd
We'll have pics 'o' plenty after the holiday of the winners. But...the top gourd was dubbed the "Gourdman's Fisherman". And if that isn't enough to get you to keep hitting refresh from now until December...what will? For the moment, the D is signing off for some turkey, fixins and Packers/Lions-related activities.
DEVELOPING...
I lined up like a lemming. I listened to a song drone on while little
puppets danced to a never-ending song. I paid too much for everything.
And yet at the end of a long day, I was happy.
Two parades, a boat ride, train ride, car ride, an elephant ride, all in
one day. But the clincher, the thing that said it all to me was as the
day wound down, we were trying to find a seat on Main Street to see the
second parade and fireworks. Yes, the second parade in that day.
Of course there were no seats, so we grabbed a piece of road. As I sat, I
ran my hand over the pseudo concrete surface to see how dirty it was.
Nothing, zero, zilch. My hand was clean.
It was then that the entire day went through my head again. There were
a million people there that day (and every day), yet everything was
clean, almost pristine and aside from a sweeper or two, I didn't even
notice how they did it. At SeaWorld when the Clydesdale dropped
something on the road, a little wet vacuum truck appeared and disposed
of the memento, but I didn't see any of that at the Magic Kingdom -
nothing to distract me from the experience at hand.
Talk about managing a brand from A-Z. Make me a promise, deliver that
promise in spades, and let me pay an admission to experience it. Ding
ding ding, we have winner!
We can learn a lot from brands like Disney. While we may not be
charging money to consumers to view our product, we are asking them to
spend their time with us (our clients). In essence time is their price
of admission - more precious than hard currency in these times.
We should ask ourselves, is what I'm producing worth the price of
admission?
As the fireworks reached the crescendo, I was lost, for a moment I
forgot about everything else, there were no sounds around me, nothing
but me and the lights in the FLA sky. As I snapped back to reality, I
was already planning my return visit.
-Vito Greto
Over 500 of the country’s top diversity advertising executives gathered in Boca Raton Florida, on November 4th. The ADCOLOR™ Awards, a program that honored outstanding diverse professionals at the junior, mid and senior levels in each segment of our industry, was the first of its kind. After this first awards program, ADCOLOR is anticipated to evolve into the next generation of diversity programs (for more info, check out Adcolor.org). With sponsors like Yahoo, Microsoft, McDonald’s and Google, it turned out to be an electric night!
The Ad Color Awards opened with a cocktail reception. Networking and introductions to some of the most talented people in our industry was my goal. The role of niche marketing and boutique agencies dominated most of my conversations. Another popular topic revolved around the future of traditional media and how digital is impacting our industry. It was inspiring to hear the diverse views and opinions of theses industry influencers.
The evening continued with opening remarks, dinner and then finally the awards presentation. There were 15 individuals selected from over 100 nominations. Nominations were based on the person’s ability to: deliver strong outcomes; contribute to their company, industry and/or community; having a reputation as “best in class” by serving as role model for others; and, strong professional character and leadership. The award categories included; The Legend, The Innovator, The Change Agent and The Rising Star. As each honoree took stage and accepted their award, it was evident that all were passionate about their craft. But most important, was each person’s role as an ambassador for diversity and inclusion in advertising.
By the close of the evening, we were all inspired to head back home and continue to push diversity initiatives and create great work. Ad Color was a wonderful reminder of all the efforts that have been made in the name of diversity and also a great motivator to “add a little color” to our canvas.
Rebecca
First gray sighting: Yvette says, "I was 17. I couldn't really see it; it was underneath the top layer." Yvonne says, "I was 26 years old, and I saw a strand in the front near my face."
Their reaction: "We figured we were going to be like Mother, with a beautiful gray streak."
Why Yvonne stopped dyeing: "The mascara I used to touch up the haircolor around my face came off on my boyfriend's jacket. That was it for me."
Why Yvette didn't stop: "When Yvonne and I went out to dinner, people would ask if she was my mother. I thought, 'Well, that's what happens when you let yourself go!'"
But then she did stop, because: "My hair was breaking off from the coloring and the straightening. It was just very unhealthy. So I'm letting it grow out. It's about half grown out now, and I try to cover up the different colors with a headband, or at least by wearing it slicked back."
And now she knows what Yvonne already knew: "I get more attention from men. I think they like it."
Rita's solution: "I would have liked to lighten Yvette's ends a bit to decrease the contrast between them and her growing-in gray, but because she's afraid of exposing her hair to more processing, I simply used a violet shampoo and a clear gloss on her [and Yvonne]. The shampoo brightens the gray and reduces yellow, and the gloss gives their hair a healthy shine."
Read more on Oprah.com http://www.oprah.com/beauty/hair/hair_omag_200710_gray.jhtml
Organic’s Talent Acquisition group recently invited candidates to a 14th birthday party at Cav Wine Bar in San Francisco as another technique to find exceptional new talent. Around 80 guests attended and networked with Organic leaders and recruiters. We all enjoyed an evening of wine, food and mingling. It was a great effort in raising awareness about Organic and building our candidate pipeline. Special thanks to Carrie Herron who took the lead on coordinating.
Traci
Paper Invitations? Evite? MySpace? Facebook? What is the coolest way to tell people about your event? Seriously, it's all about MyFace. Look into it!
When Organic’s Talent Acquisition department set out to plan a recruiting event for our New York office, it was decided that Organic’s 14th birthday be the “theme”. So, who better to use as a spokesperson than... a 14-year-old! Creatives in the NY office created the video invitation, Detroit picked up the engineering side, SF polished it off and Talent Acquisition sent the invite out to over 600 people. This is a great example of how we can share talent across our network.
Big thanks go out to everyone involved: Marc Garbarini, Amanda Van Nuys, Stacey Levine, John Schuchard, Michael White, Gautham Hegde, Sal Barone, Conor Brady, Ernesto Ornelas, Traci Armstrong, Alesha Goplin, Derek Scott, Andrew Hansinger, Nantini Rauch and Karen Dahlstrom.
Bravo!
Carrie
Click on Cartman for the full gallery!
Halloween is pretty much San Francisco’s signature holiday. Apparently, we like to play dress up and go drinking. Who knew? Sadly though, the annual festivus up in the Castro district got the kibash from the city after the revelry of the past few years got increasingly out of control. But San Frisco is not the kind of city that’s going to get all weepy and smear our eyeliner over a slap like this. We just move the party. And this year the San Francisco office—with a big assist from Fox and IGN—went a little big in doing so.
First, the prelims: the pumpkin-carving contest. Teams representing a variety of disciplines squared off an epic battle of creativity and execution. All except for one squad, that is. A certain baldy from the engagement side opted to jump the shark as it were, painting his dome traffic-cone orange in the interest of sport. Alas, this late entry wasn’t enough to dethrone the highly topical and Lite Brite-esque Aqua Teen Hunger Force Viral Bomb Pumpkin, which narrowly edged out Barfing Cartman for top honors.
Not satisfied with her team’s win with the ATHF gourd, Cori Rocklein also threw down a benchmark effort in the costume contest as well, spending the day artfully attired as a “dust bunny.” Over the course of said day she managed to accumulate a diverse array of office detritus in her dust, from Goldfish to paper clips. But this would only be good enough for second place. Mike Merit’s potentially career-damaging turn as Nicole Craine—replete with transbay and -gender BART ride—couldn’t be overlooked by the voters. The big risk gets the big prize it would seem.
But the risk-reward gambits weren’t over. The night concluded at Harlot, a newish South of Market night spot, at a party co-sponsored by Fox and IGN. Those who were still ambulatory attempted to keep pace with eventual prom king Jordan “Hips Don’t Lie” Gray, who apparently is not one to be concerned about being the first one out on the dance floor. The prom queen award could go to a bunch of worthy candidates, but Heather Wagner stands out for executing a full two minutes of choreography from the Michael Jackson “Thriller” video. And that was in the office.
I’m sure that there are other sundry details that I’m overlooking, but missed details come with the territory on Halloween. And special thanks to Jacob Ford for being the ringleader who put this circus in motion.
Turman
Update: Cori's comment alerted me to the error of my ways. Thank yous sure are easy to forget in an operation of this size. So let me take a moment to extract the hoof from my grille. Dawn Farrell was most certainly a superstar in orchestrating all of the moving parts of what became a pretty complex operation. Thank you much and apologies for the oversight.