One big part of being a design manager is liaising with clients - so I spend a lot of time fielding calls and emails. Sometimes I find myself staring at my screen for hours (ok.. exag.. maybe an hour at most) writing emails.
The most challenging ones are those where you have to relay a negative message, but still packaged professionally, and in a way that doesn't piss off your client (too much). It's not just about stringing words together, or punching out a email - its about crafting messages targeted at certain personalities that effectively communicate your objectives.
My boss is EXCELLENT at composing these types of emails. In fact, she's so good at it, that her emails sound like the clients are hearing what they think they want to be hearing - even though in reality, it's what my boss wants them to hear. Lol. Then again, I do work in an industry where communications is supposed to be our expertise, so I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from my boss.
Point of my post? I guess to share my amazement (amusement?) that something as seemingly simple as email writing is actually a potent communication tool.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Fishing Lesson
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”
Had the opportunity to this twice this month- one was a writing gig for a foundation that works with public schools to promote and build a love for reading in children, and another was for my own organization which I originally wrote about here.
What I love about these events is that even if I'm part of the support team and not a participant, I am always inspired. I find myself learning a little bit more about myself and the world and its realities.
The writing gig was awesome as I've never given much though to pre-school education before; had no idea that there was so much science and philosophy behind it! It was also really great seeing the public school teachers acknowledged and seeing their excited about learning something that they wanted to apply in their classrooms immediately.
The work I do with my organization has been a challenge recently. It's always a bit of chore getting a project off the ground, and it can get some what cumbersome if you have a day job to worry. But that always changes the minute the schools come together and you see them happily mingling, while getting some great renovation work done at the school.
My dream at one point was to work for a big developmental-type organization, but while that hasn't happened yet, I'll keep myself busy with these types of projects in the meantime.
Had the opportunity to this twice this month- one was a writing gig for a foundation that works with public schools to promote and build a love for reading in children, and another was for my own organization which I originally wrote about here.
What I love about these events is that even if I'm part of the support team and not a participant, I am always inspired. I find myself learning a little bit more about myself and the world and its realities.
The writing gig was awesome as I've never given much though to pre-school education before; had no idea that there was so much science and philosophy behind it! It was also really great seeing the public school teachers acknowledged and seeing their excited about learning something that they wanted to apply in their classrooms immediately.
The work I do with my organization has been a challenge recently. It's always a bit of chore getting a project off the ground, and it can get some what cumbersome if you have a day job to worry. But that always changes the minute the schools come together and you see them happily mingling, while getting some great renovation work done at the school.
My dream at one point was to work for a big developmental-type organization, but while that hasn't happened yet, I'll keep myself busy with these types of projects in the meantime.
Friday, September 24, 2010
5 Weddings and a Camera
My level of desire rises and falls depending on what's currently going on in my life, but the deep seeded
This post obviously means that I am nearing neurosis... once again.
I'm still mulling over whether or not I want to start with a great point and shoot or a dslr. Lumix or canon?! Canon or Nikon?! Quiapo, Hong Kong or Singapore?
Parallel to that.. when (and where!) do I squeeze it into my financials? Can I even free up some money in my budget?
Speaking of budget , to date I have 5 weddings within the next 365 days that I'd like to attend, all in different pockets of the world.
Now would be a good time to find me a pot of gold.
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Masochist AE
So I don't work in an advertising agency exactly, nor am I an AE by title.
Technicalities and nuances aside though, being an AE in an advertising agency is very close to what I do and where I work.
I was forwarded the below from a co-worker. Found it amusing because it very closely describes my experiences with work so far. After my initial amusement, I found it a little scary that I could relate to this (me?! A masochist?!). Overall though, it was light-heartening to know that while at times you feel alone in what you do.. you are reminded that you are never really alone in your experiences.
_______
THE MASOCHIST AE
I truly believe that people who enter the esoteric (read: misunderstood, misconstrued, or in layman's terms, because most people don't really know what it is exactly) world of advertising are the
truly insane.
Those who leave the industry have VERY good common sense and a sound sense of self- worth; those who leave and come back are certified nuts; and those who stay forever (and do not even entertain the
thought of shifting into another field) -- or for a long, long time, at least -- are the ones who love to suffer.
But the inherent, unarguably 100% purebred masochists are the ones advertising people call the AEs. They are the Account Executives, the so- called unsung heroes of product launches and successful market performances since time immemorial, or, to quote a recent essay on a similar subject, the quintessential advertising person.
The AE has a thousand definitions to his name, but allow me to narrow them down into five:
1. Your parents do not understand your job description.
Excerpt from a real-life dialogue between an AE and her mother:
AE: Hey, that's my TVC!
Mom: Really? You mean ikaw ang nag-isip ng idea for that commercial?
AE: Uh, not exactly.
Mom: But you did write the script, didn't you, anak? Idea mo lahat 'yon diba?
AE: Erm...well, it was more like I orchestrated the entire production, Ma.
Mom: Honey, I don't understand. Ano ba talaga ang ginagawa mo?
In a nutshell, parents don't understand that advertising is more than just being a creative.
2. You are the sounding board of everyone. (Euphemism: Everyone yells at you.)
Your client yells at you. Your creative yells at you. Your boss yells at you. Hell, kulang na lang that even the company driver yells at you for making him drive all the way to Bicutan and then to Marikina, AND THEN back to Makati.
In actuality, they all yell at you because you are their connecting vein. You are the DNA of the system. You are the air trafficker who decides which plane goes in which direction to avoid an airborne accident. Take heart: Without you, all of them can't function properly. (Shempre kailangan ng JO!)
3. You are supposed to exercise your (I quote) considerable powers of PR (Read: kaplastikan).
No matter how much you hate your support groups, you'll always have to be nice to them even if your insides are producing enough acid to burn your digestive system. This is because you need them (and they, in turn, need you -- though they refuse to acknowledge such. After all, without you, where else would they get their salaries --through sidelines?).
4. You are a VERY high-paid maid of Clients.
The common perception of other advertising people is that the AE is a Client's yes-man. "The customer is always right," goes the saying after all. This is because creatives see AEs as the Clients' sidekicks when in the agency. I've actually heard one co-AE say despairingly, "Prostitutes are better off. They can say no if they're tired and want to call it a night." Not the AE. Even though you're having a bad hair day, experiencing extremely painful menstrual cramps, not to mention having to deal with spoiled creatives, you have to make sure your Client gets his deliverables, which were needed "yesterday." (Sounds familiar?)
But, in defense of the AE, they do not say yes to Client all the time: it just seems that way. The AE, in relation to her kaplastikan prowess as discussed in point #3, has to do a lot of verbal ballroom dancing in order to make the Client see his or her view. In fact, the general rule among AEs is (paraphrased though): You cannot just say no just because.
In line with the advertising motto that all campaigns must have a strategy, so do the AE when it comes to dealing with Clients. As most Clients are sensitive about being brutally rebuffed, AEs have to massage their egos if they disagree with them. And on that note, notice how, in advertising, the word "client" is spelled as "Client?" With a capital C? Isn't that equating "Client" with "God?"
God forbid.
5. You are...McGyver.
Resourcefulness is your middle name. Advertising urban legends claim that AEs have gone through hell to make sure both Clients and creatives (and to a lesser degree, your other support groups) are appeased: sitting in the broom closet until the creatives finish the compre for a print ad, hiring a kalesa's horse to ride through traffic in order to present a storyboard to Client, even bribing a DTI representative to give you a DTI number for a promo poster.
These are not myths. They have actually happened.
In the same vein, AEs learn how to be jacks-of-all-trades and masters of disguise and deception, because they know that at the end of the day, managing to deliver (and deliver right) is what matters. The AE is a celebrated case study for borderline personality or schizophrenia because all sorts of persuasion and coercion methods have been exercised by him or her: the use of charm, tears, and cleavage exposure are patented trademarks of an AE who knows how to get what she wants.
It may sound as if the AE is a person to be pitied, but no. Because while AEs love to whine about their dismal existence, they know, in the deepest recesses of their beings, that they feel like comic superheroes at the immense agony they have gone through and will be going through.
If you listen carefully enough, you'll hear the pride between the angst, the complaints, the sighs. They know they are strong people and while not a lot may be able to understand and appreciate that, they have each other to turn to for a metaphysical sense of empathy.
And, even if, an advertisement will merit awards for the creatives and the brand manager gets a raise for a product's market performance, the AE knows that she (or he) was the one who did it all.
And that unspoken truth is the reason why the AE is deemed a masochist.
Technicalities and nuances aside though, being an AE in an advertising agency is very close to what I do and where I work.
I was forwarded the below from a co-worker. Found it amusing because it very closely describes my experiences with work so far. After my initial amusement, I found it a little scary that I could relate to this (me?! A masochist?!). Overall though, it was light-heartening to know that while at times you feel alone in what you do.. you are reminded that you are never really alone in your experiences.
_______
THE MASOCHIST AE
I truly believe that people who enter the esoteric (read: misunderstood, misconstrued, or in layman's terms, because most people don't really know what it is exactly) world of advertising are the
truly insane.
Those who leave the industry have VERY good common sense and a sound sense of self- worth; those who leave and come back are certified nuts; and those who stay forever (and do not even entertain the
thought of shifting into another field) -- or for a long, long time, at least -- are the ones who love to suffer.
But the inherent, unarguably 100% purebred masochists are the ones advertising people call the AEs. They are the Account Executives, the so- called unsung heroes of product launches and successful market performances since time immemorial, or, to quote a recent essay on a similar subject, the quintessential advertising person.
The AE has a thousand definitions to his name, but allow me to narrow them down into five:
1. Your parents do not understand your job description.
Excerpt from a real-life dialogue between an AE and her mother:
AE: Hey, that's my TVC!
Mom: Really? You mean ikaw ang nag-isip ng idea for that commercial?
AE: Uh, not exactly.
Mom: But you did write the script, didn't you, anak? Idea mo lahat 'yon diba?
AE: Erm...well, it was more like I orchestrated the entire production, Ma.
Mom: Honey, I don't understand. Ano ba talaga ang ginagawa mo?
In a nutshell, parents don't understand that advertising is more than just being a creative.
2. You are the sounding board of everyone. (Euphemism: Everyone yells at you.)
Your client yells at you. Your creative yells at you. Your boss yells at you. Hell, kulang na lang that even the company driver yells at you for making him drive all the way to Bicutan and then to Marikina, AND THEN back to Makati.
In actuality, they all yell at you because you are their connecting vein. You are the DNA of the system. You are the air trafficker who decides which plane goes in which direction to avoid an airborne accident. Take heart: Without you, all of them can't function properly. (Shempre kailangan ng JO!)
3. You are supposed to exercise your (I quote) considerable powers of PR (Read: kaplastikan).
No matter how much you hate your support groups, you'll always have to be nice to them even if your insides are producing enough acid to burn your digestive system. This is because you need them (and they, in turn, need you -- though they refuse to acknowledge such. After all, without you, where else would they get their salaries --through sidelines?).
4. You are a VERY high-paid maid of Clients.
The common perception of other advertising people is that the AE is a Client's yes-man. "The customer is always right," goes the saying after all. This is because creatives see AEs as the Clients' sidekicks when in the agency. I've actually heard one co-AE say despairingly, "Prostitutes are better off. They can say no if they're tired and want to call it a night." Not the AE. Even though you're having a bad hair day, experiencing extremely painful menstrual cramps, not to mention having to deal with spoiled creatives, you have to make sure your Client gets his deliverables, which were needed "yesterday." (Sounds familiar?)
But, in defense of the AE, they do not say yes to Client all the time: it just seems that way. The AE, in relation to her kaplastikan prowess as discussed in point #3, has to do a lot of verbal ballroom dancing in order to make the Client see his or her view. In fact, the general rule among AEs is (paraphrased though): You cannot just say no just because.
In line with the advertising motto that all campaigns must have a strategy, so do the AE when it comes to dealing with Clients. As most Clients are sensitive about being brutally rebuffed, AEs have to massage their egos if they disagree with them. And on that note, notice how, in advertising, the word "client" is spelled as "Client?" With a capital C? Isn't that equating "Client" with "God?"
God forbid.
5. You are...McGyver.
Resourcefulness is your middle name. Advertising urban legends claim that AEs have gone through hell to make sure both Clients and creatives (and to a lesser degree, your other support groups) are appeased: sitting in the broom closet until the creatives finish the compre for a print ad, hiring a kalesa's horse to ride through traffic in order to present a storyboard to Client, even bribing a DTI representative to give you a DTI number for a promo poster.
These are not myths. They have actually happened.
In the same vein, AEs learn how to be jacks-of-all-trades and masters of disguise and deception, because they know that at the end of the day, managing to deliver (and deliver right) is what matters. The AE is a celebrated case study for borderline personality or schizophrenia because all sorts of persuasion and coercion methods have been exercised by him or her: the use of charm, tears, and cleavage exposure are patented trademarks of an AE who knows how to get what she wants.
It may sound as if the AE is a person to be pitied, but no. Because while AEs love to whine about their dismal existence, they know, in the deepest recesses of their beings, that they feel like comic superheroes at the immense agony they have gone through and will be going through.
If you listen carefully enough, you'll hear the pride between the angst, the complaints, the sighs. They know they are strong people and while not a lot may be able to understand and appreciate that, they have each other to turn to for a metaphysical sense of empathy.
And, even if, an advertisement will merit awards for the creatives and the brand manager gets a raise for a product's market performance, the AE knows that she (or he) was the one who did it all.
And that unspoken truth is the reason why the AE is deemed a masochist.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Unplanned plans
A friend texted as I was commuting home from class. My route home would pass his high rise so we decided to meet up. Coincidentally, just as I finished making those plans, I got a call from another friend who was going to be in the area and wanted to know if I was free to meet up.
Three friends found themselves getting together for a quiet unplanned evening of random chatter and catch up.
If both had called and texted any later, I would've been home and the evening would not have happened.
I'm all for planning, in fact, I'm all about planning. One thing I never thought it would make me realize is that it definitely makes me appreciate serendipitous moments like these.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Weight Frustrate
After gaining back 20 of the 30 pounds i lost last year, I find myself here again. The same spot I have found myself at for the last 20-something years. Sometimes it takes me a few weeks to find myself back on track, sometimes months. Point is, I'm here. Again. For the last time. Again. This is it! Again.
It's that point when I've finally convinced myself that I am ready yet again, to FINALLY beat the bulge.
I've done the usual round of preparations: figured out the permutation of steps I'll take this time around to get me to that magic number, mentally plotted how the next few months should unfold, day-dreamed about the shopping trip I'll reward myself with as inspiration.
So I'm feeling physically and mentally ready. I'm feeling confident, almost cocky that things will go smoothly these next few months. But really, that feeling isn't so new. It's the same cycle of emotions I go through on this crazy ride I've been. But I'm glad I'm finally here again.
So here's the plan:
It took me a little over half a year to loose the 30 pounds last year. I'm hoping to accomplish the same thing in half the time. 30 pounds by December 20 is Phase 1. Going crazy and going for gold.
Will this time be different? I'd always like to think so. So wish me luck yet again as I traverse down this well-trodden road hopefully for the last time.
It's that point when I've finally convinced myself that I am ready yet again, to FINALLY beat the bulge.
I've done the usual round of preparations: figured out the permutation of steps I'll take this time around to get me to that magic number, mentally plotted how the next few months should unfold, day-dreamed about the shopping trip I'll reward myself with as inspiration.
So I'm feeling physically and mentally ready. I'm feeling confident, almost cocky that things will go smoothly these next few months. But really, that feeling isn't so new. It's the same cycle of emotions I go through on this crazy ride I've been. But I'm glad I'm finally here again.
So here's the plan:
It took me a little over half a year to loose the 30 pounds last year. I'm hoping to accomplish the same thing in half the time. 30 pounds by December 20 is Phase 1. Going crazy and going for gold.
Will this time be different? I'd always like to think so. So wish me luck yet again as I traverse down this well-trodden road hopefully for the last time.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Urge
I work in an office with ALOT of smokers - infact, my cubicle is right behind the pantry - where all the smoking happens. Seeing ashtrays and being in cigarette smoke has become so common place again that I'm scared I will one day just subconsciously pick me up a stick and light up.
I actually have nightmares about smoking. I'll be smoking in my dream and it'll be so real. It's a nightmare because I really REALLY do not want to start smoking again, nor do I have any plans on doing so. Temptation admittedly is there sometimes, and really gotta to consciously hold out so as not to give in and start up again.
*shudder*
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