Ariel and I really hope you can come to Costa Rica and have put together a little website to help you with some of the details. You have a lot of decisions to make. So pick up a guide book to plan your trip and head on over to the wedding website for some practical advice on getting to the hotel, the day before and the day of the wedding.

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/VirginiaIngram&ArielCintronArias

XOXOXO, Ginni

This blog post is in response to Allison's article 'Mad Men Shenanigans.' I have a different interpretation of the episode. What follows is a rebuttal to Allison's article on the Public Relations episode of Mad Men.

I love the show and I love the commentary on the industry. I also love the idea of a debate!

I am not so sure the publicity stunt was unethical - though there were plenty of unethical situations surrounding the story.

There are three press pitches referenced in the episode.

1. The interview of Don in Ad Age.
2. The story about the two women fighting over the ham in the Daily News.
3. The interview of Don in the Wall Street Journal.

I think the PR reference is related to all three of the news stories - and not as much about the publicity stunt.

1. Don interview #1: This reporter made up facts because Don didn't give him a story. Inexcusable.
2. The ham story: This reporter had a story - albeit fabricated - but took a bribe and reported on a story as if it were fact. Reporting on fiction as fact is inexcusable - unless there were plans to reveal the full story at a later date (and that was def. not the case). Taking a bribe is also inexcusable. But the stunt itself was okay. It's okay to stage a situation to get attention. IT IS NOT OKAY TO REPORT ON IT AS FACT.
3. Don interview #2: This reporter was called in to do an interview after Don realized that:
   a. he couldn't lower his standards to deliver creative that would make the Janzen client happy and
   b. to give a real story and boost awareness of his new agency.

Peggy, Pete and Joey got lucky the ham incident didn't turn into a story about the story, but it also sounds like the client made some missteps in their rollout strategy. Two of the four stores that carried the hams were in Jewish neighborhoods. It also sounds like the client dictated the creative to the point that Peggy and Joey thought the work was compromised - but that is probably just the egos of the Sterling Cooper Draper Price employees talking.

I think the lesson here is that if you call in the press, you better be:

• prepared to deliver a story
• you better be certain the reporter you speak with will do his homework
• sure you contact a reputable reporter

Perhaps the Daily News - in 1960 - could be equated to blogs today?

Shark Yourself

First published on the Capstrat website 7/26/10.

I've been watching a lot of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel lately. It's summer. There are no new shows. And I have a giant crush on Mike Rowe. 

Over the past two weeks, I've seen a lot of promotional commercials for Discovery Channel's upcoming Shark Week (beginning August 1). I've heard about it for years. I've seen aquariums jump on the bandwagon. Why does Shark Week exist? And how could there be a sustainable audience for 23 years? With the premiere week 12 years after Jaws.

Shark lovers seem to think they have shark week to educate people on shark safety, but there is still some sensationalism and some debate.

Though my fears are unfounded, I am too fearful of shark attacks to watch. But I think the inventors are genius:

• Sharks are universally known, feared and revered.
• The Discovery Channel created a holiday week that will have controversy and discussion every year. 
• Non-fatal shark attacks are frequent enough that a tie in to a real event or story is possible.
• The Discovery Channel shows the same shows every year, only adding a handful of new programs.
• The Discovery Channel has created an arsenal of reusable promotional materials to entertain those interested. 
• As a viewer, you may watch to learn what you should do if you see a shark or you may watch to see scary footage - but with 24 hour programming 7 days a week, there is something for everyone.

Though I am not sure I will understand the precise goals of Shark Week, with almost 30 million viewers Discovery Channel was on to something. 

Related links for shark exploring:

• Shark Week programming guide.
• Romancing the Shark - a romance quiz to determine your shark mate.
• Shark Puzzles - online puzzles, much like offline ones. (I found them much harder online than in real life.)
• State of the Shark - Shark population and statistics, notable shark discoveries and factual information about the unprovoked shark attacks.
• Shark Anatomy - Reviews shark anatomy and senses.
• Shark Yourself - A game that allows you to create a shark version of yourself.
• Shark Week on the Discovery Channel Blog - Has information about a photo contest and other shark facts. 
• Shark Week on Twitter - Discovery Channel didn't nab up @SharkWeek, but they are chatting it up on the @Discovery account and using #SharkWeek.

Gorillaz Demon Days album cover

First published on the Capstrat website 7/21/10.

I've always loved music. I've DJ'ed in several capacities:  at multiple weddings, at a classic rock radio station and at two separate college radio stations. But when I picked up my TV-and-Internet-at-the-same-time habit, I gave up a lot of my music listening activities.

You may have read an earlier article about giving up an indulgent TV-and-Internet-at-the-same-time habit. A side benefit? I have rediscovered listening to music in my freetime. And I have had time to write an article that ties my music passion back to my dayjob.

My taste in music is odd. It is either independent label rock (indie rock) or the sugary-est most popular pop music that is currently on the radio (yes, I LOVE the Black Eyed Peas - judge away). Over the years, I've noticed that people with my taste in indie music work in advertising.

The Sea and Cake and Citibank encouraged us to spend our money wisely in 2009.

The Magnetic Fields have helped advertisers sell diamonds (Helzberg diamonds early 2000) and dog food (Cesar dog food commercial in 2006).

In 2006 Of Montreal encouraged us to go Outback tonight. (This commercial was played so often I had to add some additional Of Montreal albums to my collection)

My latest discovery? A song very similar to a Gorillaz song has appeared in a Michelin Man commercial.

I unapologetically love this. The indie bands get to make some money, without selling out. And advertisers and most TV-commercial consumers get to hear great music on commercials without screwing with our memories (an article by Todd that discusses the use of popular songs on TV commercials).

Image by Mad Men Yourself

First published on the Capstrat website 7/20/10.

It's easy to get caught up in the AMC series Mad Men, the characters are flawed, glamorous and brilliant. I celebrate the notion that great creative, paired with a great product, can move the needle on sales and awareness. BUT, despite all that they have right, it is important to look at how far we have advanced over the past 50 years.

• On Mad Men research does not impact the work. In early episodes, Don Draper throws away research on the harmful effects of tobacco. Other than focus groups, research is not mentioned. It seems that research is used only if it is convenient. You'd get in a lot of trouble for that today.

• The work/life balance is very different. On Mad Men the staff places their job at a higher level of importance than their family. Today we make sacrifices for our jobs, are rarely away from our Blackberries and iPhones and always work more than 40 hours per week, but I have a hard time believing an ENTIRE agency would work on a holiday as they do one July 4th at Sterling Cooper.

• The constant party would be tiring. I am glad I don't have 3 martinis while at lunch. I'd either not be able to drink all three drinks, or be a wreck when I went back to the office. Either way it would be embarrassing and unproductive. There is no way I could hang. Who wants to blend work with a party?

• I am glad I don't have to golf to win over clients. In one of my favorite episodes a rising star at the agency gets his foot run over by a John Deere. His career is proclaimed to be over.  Thank goodness my performance is not based on my golf game. I've spent most of my golfing career learning how to caddy. I still can't golf worth a damn, but I make a great caddy.

If a show were made in 2060 about advertising in 2010 what would they say?

• Can you believe people typed in 2010?
• Can you believe people carried more than one device?
• Look at the size of that computer!!
• Look at what this bunch of nobodies did to transform the industry!!



I started with three schools: UNC Asheville (UNCA), Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro (UNCG). I went on a road trip with my parents to visit UNCA and Appalachian. I took a formal tour of both schools, met with students informally and discussed my options with my high school counselor. I liked both universities a lot, but in the end I chose UNCG even though I never took a formal tour of the school. UNCG was an easy choice for me. My sister went there and I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to get in. How could UNCA or Appalachian ever compete with that?

It was 1994; I did not have the luxury of using the web. Now schools can create a site that evokes a sense of place. Most people are initially adverse to change and want to know what is going to happen next. Creating a website that accurately shows the environment and the experience can help students prepare for a new experience.

Prospective audiences don’t like seeing images that look like they were purchased through an image stock house. Almost any college can have a picture of a group of students walking through campus in the fall. An image like this does not say anything special about your campus. If you decide to use a fall image, it better currently be fall. And you must be able to see something uniquely distinctive about your campus or have a unique perspective to the photography.

I tested this out and did a Google image search of “Fall” + “Walking through campus.” On the first page I got four images. Interestingly enough, the only shot that had a distinguishing landmark in the image was taken for a news article about a school. The three schools that were using fall images on their sites were missing the mark. They did not identify the names of any of the students and there were no distinguishing characteristics present in the photos. It was also summertime in all of the locations when I did the search.
How do you avoid the generic look?

• You’ve got thousands of subjects you can use for your site. They usually want to affiliate. Current students, faculty, staff and alumni are all potential subjects. Use social networking sites to collect stories and images. Make it a requirement that individuals tell you the story behind the image.
• Give individuals a discount to the school store if they submit an image with someone wearing a school sweatshirt.
• Expand upon stories in your printed publications. Show additional images and expand the story. This will give your publications a cohesive story.
• Once you have an image of someone specific, tell the audience about that person. Your users will connect if they know a little bit about those individuals. Where are they from? What subjects are they affiliated with? I want to determine how I can relate.
• Rent out digital cameras with video and let students record their daily lives.
• Show what life on and off campus is like. Are students able to walk to a grocery store? What are the restaurants on campus? Are there restaurants within walking distance? What makes this experience unique to your university? Do you have any traditions with spots near campus? Do the students?
• What is your campus personality? Does your student population like to ride bikes? Cheer for the basketball team? Is your campus greener than others? Does your student population like to travel on weekends? How can this be visually represented on the site? How can your culture influence the navigation?
• Make your navigation clear. If you vary from standard navigation, it needs to be very clear and have a good reason for doing so.
• Make your photography unique. Bridgewater does a great job of taking photos from
  interesting angles. Cornell makes the photo live beyond the frame — a breakdancer’s foot will extend beyond the frame of the featured image on the homepage.

You get the idea. Embrace your culture online. Make it shine through to prospective students. They want to know what their experience will be like and you have a lot of competition. You can’t afford to look like everyone else.

Even though I am in the advertising business, I don't have time to watch commercials.

I have my DVR set to record all of my favorite programs and generally watch them within a day or two of the original airtime. Though the initial appeal of a DVR was the ability to skip commercials I find I rarely bother to bypass them. Why? Because I am too busy multitasking on Twitter, Facebook and all the other amazing sites on the Internet while I consume my TV.

So the advertisers are winning? I am watching all their commercials, right?

Well, sort of. You see, like in most multitasking scenarios, I am rarely giving anything my full attention. Therefore I am likely wasting more time than necessary and accomplishing half of what I could in double the time. And it is killing my productivity in my personal life.

Yes, it is my job to know what is happening in advertising, the Internet and my client's industry -- but I am not required to be in front of a computer and online 24/7. That is why we have smart phones.

I spend a lot of time explaining to my family, friends and colleagues that I don't have time to fill in the blank outside of work. I do have a busy life with a lot of commitments and I spend most weekends out of town. But so what? Am I more busy than others?

No. Instead the multitasking is killing me. So, I am changing the way I watch TV. No more TV watching with the computer. Hopefully this will make my time outside of the office more productive. And more interesting.

I'll take a spin and let you know how it goes. And if you IM me and I don't answer right away, don't be mad. I am just focusing on my TV watching. Or cleaning my bathroom. Or taking my dog for a walk around the block.



At Capstrat, we spend a lot of time creating marketing campaigns for high school students. On Friday at the NC DECA Career Development Program Liz Hamner and I had the tables turned on us. We spent several hours having high school students market what they have learned to us.

NC DECA is an association of high school students enrolled in marketing programs. Through DECA, students learn marketing, management and general business skills. This year more than 2,000 students from across North Carolina came to Greensboro to compete in a series of written and verbal competitive events which were evaluated by business, education and industry professionals.

I was pleased with the imagination of the students I met. In our role playing exercise I was an owner of a manufacturing company that was considering a four-day, 40-hour work week instead of a five-day, 40-hour work week. The student acted as a manager meeting with me about my proposal. The student was to show they understood how the proposal would impact the profitability of the company, show empathy for workers and determine the best way to roll out the plan to the employees of the plant.

The students had 10 minutes to read the scenario and prepare for the assignment. The creativity was inspiring. I could not have made such strong arguments as a high schooler. To respect the privacy of the students, I don't want to go into detail on the responses. It was hard to make choices knowing that my decisions would impact the future of these young students.

After meeting these quick-witted students I believe our industry will be in great shape. It also gave me a new way to look at some of our client challenges. I look forward to the competition next year.



Sure the Internet has changed everything. Everything is expected to happen quickly. Everyone is on call all the time. The Web is always on and someone is always up to interact with it. We've all complained about this but there are benefits.

There are elements in Twitter that have helped me in my daily life.

1. Twitter helps me distill concepts
   If I read something, I have to summarize in less than 140 characters. This can be a big challenge - the longer an article, the harder it is to summarize it in 140 meaningful characters - including the link!
2. Twitter helps me think of headlines
   You become the marketer for whatever you are talking about. You want people to be interested in what you are saying - otherwise you wouldn't have said it. If you want them to read more, you have to write something that piques the interest of your audience.
3. Twitter makes me more open to explore new ideas
   With URL shorteners (like bit.ly), I click on URLs all the time and have no idea what I am going to see. Sure, I occasionally get Rick-rolled, but most of the time, I just land on a Web site I would not have found otherwise.
4. Twitter makes me think about market segments
   My Twitter and Facebook accounts are connected - meaning my Twitter updates are also broadcast on FB. FB has some business contacts, but is for the most part, mostly friends that I have hung out with at some part of my life. I don't always know the people I follow on Twitter. Or if I do, I have met them only once or twice in person. If I have something I want to say, I think about whether or not it is more appropriate for my FB or Twitter crowd and then post accordingly.
5. Twitter makes me realize I don't have to read and/or respond to everything
   If someone emails something to me, I feel like I have to read it and either take action or state a point of view. I can't do this on Twitter. I would drown. I've gotten really good at segmenting Twitter times in my day and ignoring it the rest of the day.
6. Twitter makes me remember to walk away from the computer
   At times, I turn it off. If I am not interested in what the majority of my Twitter friends are interested in at any given moment, I walk away from the computer. A novel idea.

How have you begun to own your interactions with technology?



Yes, the Olympics. The Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, Canada this weekend.

Of course I love:

• Learning about the host city
• Learning the athlete back stories
• Reading Olympics trivia (for example Pigeon Racing was a sport for a year??)
• The celebration of national identity (In August 2008, we had a really un-PC opening ceremony at Capstrat for the Olympics.)

I like to believe the Olympics bring a huge transformation to the host city - making international audiences aware of a city. 

Barcelona was a wonderful city prior to the Olympics, but the international attention and resulting tourism 18 years later has helped the city flourish. Or has it? Does Atlanta, Georgia enjoy the same international recognition Barcelona enjoys? Sydney, Athens and Beijing were already quite well-known and may not experience the same measurable long-term spike. London will likely perform in a similar fashion. 

If the Olympics do not have a lasting tourist-related economic benefit, could there be other indicators that make the event a success? The games in Vancouver this Winter are considered the greenest Olympics event to date and the London Olympics will be even greener. Could the expansion of and increased ridership on Vancouver's light rail be the success measurement?  

What do you think Vancouver should use as a success metric?

Read more posts by Virginia Ingram.