The next reality show, right in my back yard – Can you survive as a Walmartian?

I’m watching Running in Heels on styleTV – if you haven’t seen it, it’s an intern group competing for a position at Marie Claire magazine in NYC. There are some bitchy contestants and daring and crazy stunts disguised as tasks to test the gusto of the competitor/ applicants. Pretty good show all around and glad to see that Nina is breaking out of the Project Runway bubble. Lots of glamour and travel and fun and partying – makes life in the real world in a real job seem like that’s what it’s all about. Stressed to these girls is whether or not they get invited to the red carpet event of the afternoon, whatever!
New idea – do a reality show job interview at the Walmart home office in Bentonville. Bring a slew of “qualified” applicants to a dry county in Arkansas and have them work 12 + hour days in the retail behemoth that is Walmart. Everything that goes on in that building is amazing and has a lot to teach unsuspecting jobbies! There wouldn’t be the glitz and glamour, that’s for sure. So if for some reason, anyone reading this has any pull in the realm of reality shows, I’d love to pitch the whole of my idea!

March 30, 2009 1

Breakin’up is hard to do…

Neil Sedaka was so right – it is hard to do, but I feel it has to be done.
I must break up with my hair girl! Unfortunately, she does a stellar job so I can’t fault her there. The problem is that I NEVER EVER know how much she is going to charge me.

6 weeks ago I had my hair done and she put a bit more brown in it, did a quick razor cut to thin it out but not cut any length off it and waxed my eyebrows, for all that she only charged me $70. I just figured since I didn’t get a full cut and “style” change that was the reason for the lower price. Well I went in last week and asked for the VERY same thing, telling her how much l loved it and about the compliments, I got from the original cut.

So she did the same thing sorta, it’s a bit lighter, so not really what I asked for but not something that was worth complaining about because it looks super good. No length cut off, nothing fancy. $109???
Yeah I was shocked! I couldn’t believe the up charge. A $10 difference might be one thing, but $40 is a lot of money!
I’m sad – I don’t know who I’m going to go to now – I really trust her with my hair, unfortunately I do not trust her with my finances!

March 23, 2009 3

Wait, is that Walt from LOST in that commercial?

It sure is! Malcom David Kelley (aka Walt from LOST) is in my new commercial. Again, not really MY commercial but I was there for the entire process, so I feel fine in saying MY commercial. See previous posts…

Here are what some people are saying about it as well…
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/messagetopic.asp?p=11904024
http://boards.ign.com/lost/b8147/176834073/p1/
http://forum.lostpedia.com/showthread.php?s=339bf816e7733fa12e066f6d07ca955d&p=1250012&mode=threaded#post1250012
http://www.thecoconutinternet.com/showthread.php?t=7562
http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?showtopic=2323232

You can see my commercial linked here:
GRACIE’S AWESOME COMMERCIAL!

March 5, 2009 3

Super Star Conference Call

I can’t really quite say who yet, but I just had a conference call with a someone who I consider to be quite the star – but remember, I’m a bit of a nerd.
It would be a real treat to work with this person and I think it was really cool of them to actually be present on the conference call and express their equal excitement to be able to work with us.
Sorry that this is pretty vague – well I guess it’s really extremely vague but if I told you who it was, I’d probably have to kill you – or at least it would ruin a future blog post since I don’t want to (legally bound not to) mention their name just yet.

March 2, 2009 0

Something to think about in the land of CPG marketing…

As CPG/ Big Box teams get leaner on the inside of corporate walls, do agencies benefit? Are they getting more business and thus hiring more people? Or are they just piling more work on their account teams, therefore creating stagnant design and ideation?
So who really suffers? Do consumers – the end result of all marketing campaigns suffer because they aren’t fed the mega-multitudes of commercialization that they are used to? Do the agency team members suffer because they are working on the same brands with no new ideas? Does CPG branding suffer because no matter what is “launched” it’s not going to move the needle in the mind of the consumer because they aren’t told to love it? Consumers are so used to being told exactly what they want to hear and need to love – I sometimes wonder if anyone can really think for themselves when it comes to products, etc – not at all pertaining to life choices and things of that nature – purely commercial and often frivolous impulse items. Don’t get offended – I still think we’re all capable of making intelligent choices – but it’s an interesting study to see what purchases impulse marketing actually creates in the minds of consumers. Trust me, I’m just as guilty when it comes to impulse buying! I’m drawn to shiny objects and flashy packaging just like anyone else.
Another thing to consider on the flip side… If there are less marketing dollars available in the land of the CPG, less internal marketing talent, then does that equate to less talent available in the agency world? If you can’t pay for the exquisite marketing we are all accustomed to, then what happens to the agency team that isn’t going to create the elaborate campaigns any more – you really do get what you pay for, product wise and creative wise!
Further thought… Do the CPG/ Big Box unemployed now become consultants for projects they were once working on? So that expands their portfolio and creates a broader knowledge base for everyone involved, including probably their former employer – wonder if they ever realize the talent they let go?It’s an interesting time in the marketing world – just as it is with any job group. The things that are happening in the marketing worlds are really crazy – it seems as if so much is going back to smaller budget ideals that are now costing an arm and a leg to create that “home-done” feel. I’m very eager to see what the recession does to so many marketing campaigns going forward – people still need to create ideals that are going to sell sell sell but at what cost to the companies and to the consumers.

March 2, 2009 1

Day 5 of no shopping (for myself)

Well I’m still alive… the lack of shopping has not cause my internal organs to explode or my wallet to brutally maim me, so that’s a good thing! The hardest part so far has been when I check my mail and get all those shiny coupons and flyers about sales GOING ON NOW and so forth. My co-workers are pretty happy, they are now the recipients of all the coupons and reward things I receive in the mail. I think it really won’t be as bad as everyone makes it out to be – and yes, most people were overly shocked when told what I was giving up for Lent – comments such as “we really will fall deeper into recession now, are you going to survive, etc.” were made in my general direction. Whatever, I can do it! It also helps that there are clothes in my closet that still have the tags on them – so it will still be like new clothes – new to you (if you see me out) at least.
I did have to set foot in a retail establishment this weekend – I had to pick up items for an upcoming video shoot. So I went to Pier 1 to pick up some plates and place settings. There is some RANDOM stuff in that store for sure! For instance, there were these chickens that when you squeeze them, a thing that resembles and egg expect to find in Pier 1 – the gal at the counter said they were extremely popular. I vote no on that… that’s just gross!

March 2, 2009 3