Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

Boom Goes The Resume

Seth has a great post up titled Why bother having a resume?

There is something comfortable about the standards of a resume. You know how to fill in the blanks. The format has already been worked out. The only question left is if you are going to send it in a Rich Text Format or Word Document.

If you blow up the resume, the questions are wonderfully endless.

• What I am going to say?
• How I am going to say it?
• Is this really what I want to do?

I was describing my career to someone last week and realized the textbook method doesn't really explain who I am or what I want to do next. Today, I was looking at the description at the top of my tumblr blog and came to the same conclusion.

Every person is a sum of their experiences and certainly my mechanical engineering degree and the time at General Electric is important, but there are a whole set of new things that show better what I can do and want to do with my time.

This image is from a document I turned in for a chance at an internship with Ben and Jackie from Church of the Customer. I always liked this representation, experiences overlaid and fading with time. That collage is three and a half years old and would look quite different today.

As I look at the things that I am interested in now, there are seeds in those past projects and positions, but they would be hard to see through bullet points and required corporate speak of a standard resume.

This post should not be considered by anyone reading that I am looking for a new corporate home. Seth's post just made me think about the stories we tell other about what we do, both in form and content.

Rocketboom: $40K for first week's ads

Rocketboom's Ebay auction ended tonight and the rights to the first week of ads went for $40,000.

I have wondered with many how Amanda and Andrew were going to make some money doing this.

It seems they have figured it out...

What are advertisers thinking?

As the football season approaches again, we undoubtedly see the rise in really bad advertising. JaffeJuice was talking about ads companies shouldn't run and got me thinking more about this.

Yesterday, I saw my first Coors ad of the new season. It was playing off the famous Seinfeld episode "The Implant" (Terri Hatcher ends it with the line--"They're real and they are spectacular"). It is amazing the difference context makes. I think the Coors ad is a bunch of sexist crap. What is sad is the ad is for a somewhat cool innovation - your 18 plastic bottles come in a plastic box, in which you can just throw ice and be ready to go.

My wife always telling me that I am not the target for those advertisements. She is right, but I think fewer people are willing to listen to messages like the one Coors to playing.

Great Minds Think Alike

It seems Wall Street Journal writers Kate Kelly and Brian Steinberg share some of the same thoughts I do on media brands.

Yesterday, they wrote a piece [pg B2, sub. needed] on the upcoming break-up of Miramax Films and Disney. They think that Miramax has developed a recognizable brand and that moviegoers went to theatres to see Miramax films. They called out Pixar and Dreamworks as other brands people are starting to recognize in the media realm.

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago directly in reference to Pixar. I don't think Dreamworks fits the bill, because I am not sure what to expect from them. They make all different types of movies. The Speilberg connection definitely helps though.

Miramax might be a better example. I personally don't go running to see their films, but I do know they take more risks with their films. Here is a list of current and recent films from the studio:

• Sin City
• Hostage
• Finding Neverland
• The Aviator

Disney must think there is something to it. They are paying the Weinstein brothers $140 million to keep the name.

TiVo No No

I started writing a post about TiVo's decision to add advertising when you are trying to fast forward through advertising.

Much better one have already been written. Read these posts from Ben at the Church and Matt at the Media Center Weblog.

Advertising is Dead?

It has been a long time since the Daily Picks on My Yahoo! page dished out something interesting for me.

This morning they delivered me IHAVEANIDEA.

Founder Ignacio Oreamuno says:

They say all revolutions are started by dreamers.

If this is true, "I Have An Idea" is one long dream. We vow not to rest until we make drastic and constructive changes in the advertising industry. Why? Because the advertising industry we want to work for doesn't yet exist.

Good starting point.

Filling the Gap

WSJ put some numbers to my post about competitors moving to fill the Vioxx gap.

At stake: Vioxx's $2.5 billion in 2003 sales. Marketers have only a brief opportunity to pounce. "People are going to go with something in 10 days, whatever period, two weeks. How long do you wait?" asks John V. Allen of Lippincott Mercer, a brand consultant. As long as would-be substitutes refrain from pointing fingers at Merck, he says, they shouldn't raise hackles.

And here are the pitches the alternatives are using:

• "Don't Let The Recent News About Your Arthritis Medicine Stop You From Treating Your Arthritis Pain" -- Tylenol Arthritis Pain


• "With All The Recent News On Prescription Vioxx, You May Be Asking What The Right Pain Reliever Is For You." -- Advil


• "Celebrex has been making people with pain and arthritis feel better for years. And now we want to ease your mind too." -- Celebrex


• "If You Were Prescribed VIOXX For Your OSTEOARTHRITIS or RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS Ask Your Doctor If Mobic Is Right For You." -- Mobic

Jerry...

There is a Q&A with Jerry Seinfeld in WSJ today [sub. needed]. The questions were under the heading "Creativity".

This is the best exchange:

WSJ: Most ad folks think the 30-second commercial is the optimal format. Your "Webisode" lasts for several minutes. Do consumers have that long an attention span?

Mr. Seinfeld: There is no such thing as an attention span. There is only the quality of what you are viewing. This whole idea of an attention span is, I think, a misnomer. People have infinite attention if you are entertaining them.

More Signs Things Are Changing.

On the top of B1 in the WSJ today, there is an article titled, "For Big Marketers Like AmEx, TV Ads Lose Starring Role."* Big companies are starting to spend their money in other places. This isn't huge surprise, but the article give some insight into what the big guys are thinking. This from AmEx chief marketing officer John Hayes when he addressed NBC's ad salesforce:

Your business model needs to change...It used to be that we bought time, shipped you the commercials, had lunch or a glass of wine together once in awhile; you took care of the quality of programming and we made sure the check did not bounce. We all sat back, checked the ratings , watched our business grow...those days are woefully over.

The article reports that TV ads now account for only 25% of total ad expenditures. Here are other ways they are spending their money: Jerry Seinfeld/Superman webisodes (here was my post on that from Brand Week), an touring photo exhibit of classic photos from past ads, and sponsorship of the Sheryl Crow Central Park concert.

*subscription needed

Please stop the madness

I am in San Diego with the family visiting my wife's sister. We took America West on our flight out here. When it was time for the drink service, this is what we found:

Tonight, it was advertising throughout the menu during our visit to The Cheesecake Factory.

I wish I could be left alone and have some peace and quiet.

Attention decision makers - the additional revenue is not worth it. I am starting to choose products and services based on the fact that I only get the product or service.

Please leave me alone.

Thank you.