Early iPad Impression

Do I need to invest in a "tweener" machine that doesn't really beat out the other two devices I own? Probably not.

Me, "The iPad Cometh"

So much for that. Thanks to a recently-passed birthday and a chance visit to the Apple store on launch day, I fell in love with the iPad after 5 minutes of use. Did I need it? Probably not. Did I want it? Enough to buy it after 20 minutes of hard thinking. Do I deserve it? As the birthday boy, absolutely. :P

I've had a few days to play around with it. While I'm definitely not one to say whether or not its going to revolutionize computers, I do have enough experience with it to at least tell you what's awesome/not so hot about it. Hit the link for my impressions of the hottest thing in tech.





First things first: I think the iPad at its core is a giant iPod Touch. I've already caught some flack from a few of my iPad-owning compatriots, but it's hard not to draw the similarities. They function pretty much the exact same way, with size being the only major difference between the two. If you've used an iPod Touch before, for the most part, you know what you're getting.

With that said, size really does make a difference. It's big enough to make most iPhone and iPad applications a lot easier to use but still notably smaller than a netbook. It's oddly neat to be able to carry what is roughly a very thin book to the couch and do a lot of computer-type stuff on a tablet. I don't think it'll outright replace laptops or netbooks, but it's really neat on the go or if you just want something small to consume digital media with.

I play a ton of games on my iDevices, and having the extra real estate made a big difference in playing certain games like Monopoly and The Price is Right. Thanks to the big screen, it's easier for multiple people to look at the screen at the same time, which makes it a much better communal experience.



Surfing the web also benefits greatly on the iPad. I hate surfing the web on my G1 iPod Touch because it's slow and unless you're on a mobile site, it's really hard to navigate through anything. With the iPad, everything moves really quickly, even when I could only get a 1-bar connection. The extra space also makes it easier to surf non-mobile sites, so you can surf the web as you know it with your hands.

If you have a lot of iPhone apps and fear that they'll look like crap when expanded to fit on the iPad screen, I have relatively good news for you: they don't look like crap. There's a clear drop in definition, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. iPad-specific applications definitely look better on the big screen, but it's absolutely not a deal-breaker.

One thing that has caught me off guard with this device is the great battery life. Even after playing a bunch of games and watching YouTube over the past few days, I have yet to charge it since launch because my battery still has over 50% in the tank. With my iPod Touch, I put the brightness down all the way and turn off wifi whenever I'm not using it to maximize my battery because it seems to run out so quickly. With the iPad at default settings and wifi on all the time, it's still kicking after a number of days of not being charged.

While I love having the iPad, I wouldn't go out and throw away your netbook or your laptop in exchange for this. If you're looking for a "real" computer experience, this is definitely not it. Like I said, it essentially has the advantages/disadvantages of a big iPod Touch, so it won't have all of the functionality you may want from a computer at double the price of an entry-level netbook.


It's worth noting that Steve Jobs is a liar when he said that typing on an iPad was a dream. I eventually got used to typing with my thumbs on my iPod Touch, and this device has a similar learning curve. The big on-screen keyboard initially makes you think you can touch-type on it like you would a real keyboard, but it doesn't work as smooth as you'd hope. You'll frequently hit the wrong buttons and lose your place on the keyboard without the tactile feedback. Using your pointer fingers to start should work fine, though typing up a business document on it could be a nightmare. You can buy the iPad keyboard attachment to alleviate that stress, but at that point, you might as well just buy a real laptop.

My only other major gripe is not Flash-related (though not having that is a bummer, too). While the form-factor is great for portability, the tablet style isn't the most ergonomic computing solution. You won't always have it sitting on your lap at the perfect angle to interact with it, so you're either holding it up (which can get tiring) or resting it on a table (which can hurt your neck if it's flat against the table). My girlfriend bought me the official iPad case to go with it, so the cover can be folded back to rest the iPad on an angle, which helps it a bit as far as usability goes. However, for certain applications, such as watching a longer video, you may need to prop it up against something to have it stand upright.

I'm not sure if the iPad will change the world, even though it's sold over 2 million units in the last 59 days. At this point, I'm not even 100% sure where my iPad fits into my own lifestyle, other than as a piece of nerd bling. But I do love using it and I think it has a lot of potential as a computing and media consumption device. If you know what you're getting at the price you're paying and are happy with that, then go right ahead and splurge on an iPad. It's going to take some time before developers, advertisers, content makers and consumers really figure out what this thing can do and how to make the most of it. Till then, I'll chime in on my blog with more impressions on the device, apps, ads and anything else worth noting as I play around with it.

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South Park: You Have 0 Friends

I'm not an avid South Park watcher, but some of my favourite episodes are the ones that cover current events and issues. The newest episode of the show, "You Have 0 Friends" is all about how serious Facebook can be.

As an avid fan of Facebook humour (and a regular viewer of Lamebook) this episode was right up my alley. Stan is the guy who is forced into the Facebook world kicking and screaming, Kyle is a Farmville addict who quickly loses friends when he becomes friends with the unpopular kid and Cartman is in classic form. In particular, his segment on Chatroulette may be my favourite part of this particular episode.

With the exception of the Tron bits, I think I've seen or experienced all of these scenarios and behaviours since I signed up for the service years ago. I recommend checking it out here if you haven't already seen it.

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Say Hello To My Little Friends

As someone who is a huge fan of the Al Pacino version of Scarface, I'm not sure whether or not this YouTube video of elementary students reenacting Scarface for a school play is horribly disturbing or the best thing ever. In any case, it's probably going to make its rounds as the viral video du jour. Click through to see the video and some of my impressions.

This video hit the Internet today care of YouTube user cindymomof6. At face value, the responsible side of me feels really uncomfortable watching this. I have no idea what benefit the kids would get from re-enacting a movie involving gang members, drugs and tons of violence. Even the kids self-censorship makes me feel weird, even though I love fudge. How did any school approve of this? The other side of me thinks that this is freaking hilarious. I've watched it three times over, posted it on my Twitter and Facebook, sent it via IM to a bunch of other people, and am now writing a blog post about it.

Is there more going on here? Or is this just the Internet being the Internet? The idea of a kids version of Scarface that was sanctioned by any school just does not compute in my head. Also, this user's favourite videos are all very religious, which kind of contradicts the life and times of Tony Montana. I guess until we learn more about why this video exists, I'll go back to watching Tony Montana go out with a bang.

UPDATE: This was not a school play. This was done by director Marc Klasfeld and Rockhard Films, whose credits include Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" and Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment. Thanks to TMZ for cracking that case pretty quick!

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LEADERS OF THE NEW: Michelle Fargas

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.






Name: Michelle Fargas

Career Path: Project Management

Education: Seneca Creative Advertising - Graduated in 2009 with Honours

Advertising Experience: 4 months interning at Fjord (Cossette); currently working full-time as Project Coordinator at Proximity Canada (BBDO)

One Thing About You: I'm a heavy metal music lover with a penchant for arts & crafts, and kittens.

Contact: michellefargas@gmail.com


Click READ MORE for the full interview!


When did you know that advertising was for you?

I like to think it's in my blood. My father was in advertising. He started out as a graphic designer turned Art Director, and eventually became a professor in marketing. I've been hearing his "lectures" since I was a kid and I guess I actually listened! I was officially set on advertising when I went to Seneca's orientation session. One of the profs sold it to me and I grabbed on - hook, line and sinker.


Based on my personal experience as well as talking to advertising students, not a lot of students are striving for Project Management positions. Many don't even know what a Project Manager does. How did you end up in that field?

I totally fell into Project Management because of my internship at Cossette. I received a call from the HR department requesting my resume (I had left my contact information there after my class pitched to Cossette for our final semester - my team won, by the way!) and a phone interview with the Director of Production of Fjord, Cossette's interactive side. The position was support for the Project Managers and even though I didn't know what it was I jumped at the chance to intern for Cossette.


You were fortunate enough to have interned at Cossette as a Project Manager. What was that experience like? What were the key things you learned to be successful as a Project Manager?

It took me about two days to shake off the awe that I was interning at the biggest Canadian agency in Canada. In that aspect, I was excited and ready to start each day. I absorbed as much as I could from the people around me and asked questions about processes, best practices, formats, etc. Sometimes I just asked "Why?" Understanding the base process for something helps in future situations wherein you can take that practice and apply it to another project.

Part of my learning experience was gathered from where I was sitting - first I sat with the Flash developers and then with the coding dev teams (the office is open-concept and we had the PMs and AMs around us). This helped me learn more about what they do and how they do it, which is important in figuring out project estimates and whether projects are feasible. My boss told me he sat me there on purpose, just to learn things like that.

Key Things I Learned…
Be nice to the developers! They will be the ones who can break you or save you during those looming deadlines.
Write everything down. Everything! Don't go anywhere without a pen and notebook.
Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Smile, and mean it! :)
Make use of Post-it notes.
Don't take on more than you can chew - pass things up if you need to, and do it waaay before the deadline!


A few months ago, you made the big jump from intern to full-time employee, landing a position at BBDO Proximity. What was the process of securing a job like for you?

I am extremely lucky to be where I am now. For me, it was all about connections. I kept in touch with the Director of Production at Fjord, who was leaving to work elsewhere as I was settling into my internship. Laura and I talked about my future a lot and she had heard from the staff that they were really happy with me and my work. I guess she knew at the time that Fjord wasn’t looking to hire a junior like me so she took my contact information and resume before her last day. A few weeks later I was responding to calls from her agency contacts/acquaintances that were either looking for contract or full-time positions within Project Management.

One of those calls was for an interview with BBDO. I met with the two Project Directors/Brand Directors for my first interview and made sure not to lean on my Laura, my reference, too much but did discuss working and training with her. My second interview was with the PMO Consultant. It was a little tougher on the questions and I actually got to discuss salary options.

Overall it happened really quickly for me. While at Cossette I gathered contacts by letting people know I was looking for full-time work and most were happy to give me an email address or two. I set up a few informationals that way which helped me stay in the “interview mindframe” and work on asking/answering questions. Basically I believe I am in area of "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."


I know a lot of students are curious about the role a project manager plays at an advertising agency. What do you do as a Project Coordinator?

As a Project Coordinator at Proximity, I am dedicated to one major client. I am assigned to the smaller projects Proximity deals with (from online ads, website builds, changes, emails, etc). Working with our Resource Manager, I find a team to complete the job and then we get briefed by the accounting team. I ensure the resources (developers, art directors, designers, and copy writers) get everything we need to complete the deliverables on time. I am the liaison between accounting and the creative/developers for the most part and keep the team on a timeline.

After the project has been completed, we go through a series of Quality Assurance (QA). Sometimes I do this for my PMs or we have a team of QA to go through it checking for errors against our proposed deliverables. We are also checking for functionality when it comes to websites, CMS, flash, etc on different platforms.

For the paperwork, I write up job estimates, process invoices, budget tracking and a few other administration duties. I also do little things for the Project Managers as needed, such as purchasing images, typefaces and sound clips online.


Many people would consider Project Management as a "business" job. What role do you play in the creative side?

Project Management is a great mix of business and creative when it comes to interactive advertising. Even my junior level here at Proximity, I am able to get involved with brainstorming and concepting during briefs, internal reviews and through emails. We are encouraged to give our opinion. PMs are also the people who know what is feasible when an idea is pitched (in terms of the timeline, budget or client expectations).

We often get all-staff emails from staff informing us “what’s cool and new” or just plain interesting articles. This way we all keep up with the pace of the internet and it starts our discussion about using these various tools and interactive methods with our own clients.


When working in Interactive, there's an extra layer of technical knowledge you need to have in order to be successful at your job. How easy or difficult was it for you to grasp that side of the business? Do you think the average advertising student can handle it?

For me, it was very easy to take on the technical side of developing interactive ads. I was one of those teenagers who clamped onto the internet during the dial-up days of the early ‘90s so I have knowledge of html and xml. With that it became a bit easier to understand how CSS and other coding work in terms of the final performance of an ad. My dev team at Fjord was awesome at explaining things to me when I was tasked with a job; instead of just telling me what to do, they explained the system and let me ask questions about its functionality so it made sense to me in cause and effect terms.

I think with the increasing interest in interactive advertising, schools are beginning to take another look at the importance of learning the technical skills needed for this medium. Our semester learned a bit of what goes on for both front- and back-end development but half a semester isn’t enough to grasp it without some kind of interest in manipulating the medium to begin with.


For any students interested in a Project Management position, what would you say to them to sell them on a career in this field?

Project Management is like working for Accounts, without the task of dealing with clients. It’s like being in with the Creatives, except you watch deadlines! The project wouldn't get done on time without a project manager.


What do you do for fun?

I love going to concerts/music festivals; the atmosphere and adrenaline rush from going to heavy metal concerts is incredible! I enjoy reading, cuddling with my new kitten, playing around with the hundreds of apps on my iPod, cooking and baking. I love the internet and its infinite resource of all things inspirational, or all things inane (hey, you need this once in a while!). Friends and family hang-outs are fun, too.


E-elevator pitch (sell yourself in 140 characters or less)

I'm a fusion of the left and right sides of the brain: I can switch from creative tasks to business, bringing organization to imagination.


If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

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The Impact of Sharing Your Location Through Social Media

Last summer, I was out of town on a family vacation and I thought it'd be cool to tweet that. Later that day, while listening to This Week in Tech, one of the hosts mentioned the rise in house robberies after someone tweets that they're not home. I was horrified for the rest of the trip.

Thankfully, my house was not hit. However, sharing your location publicly through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare can be dangerous. Getting your house robbed is one thing; but what if someone you don't know decides to go and find you?

Please Rob Me is a website that aims to raise awareness about the dangers of sharing your location publicly on social media platforms. While they don't actually want people to use this site as a resource for who to rob, it very well could come in handy for a lot of bad things if used the wrong way. Through this site, you can see every Foursquare tweet in the world, or narrow down your search by location or Twitter user name. I was especially startled when I searched a local city and found people I knew on the first page. The sad thing is, I'm sure 99.9% of the people listed on this website have no idea that their tweets are being displayed on a site that indirectly encourages people to rob you, let alone the fact that your tweets are being displayed elsewhere at all.

We still have a long way to go before we can catch up with the technology and the ramifications of our actions. I'm not saying to stop playing Foursquare or never share your location. Just understand what you could be getting into when you put your location out there.

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Why Playing The Piano On YouTube Isn't Awesome

I was checking out Mashable today and saw this post on playing the piano on YouTube. A Swedish production company called KOKOKAKA had put it together and I thought I would try it out. I'm always interested in seeing new or unique applications of technology, so I thought I'd try it out. If you haven't already tried it out in the video above, it takes advantage of the YouTube feature that allows users to click back to a certain portion of the video. The team then recorded themselves playing all of the notes and linked them for a user to play in any sequence they like. Plan on tearing through Beethoven's 9th symphony on it? Good luck. As an interactive piece, I appreciate all the work that went into it. However, it's not that fun to play with.

Playing the piano on things other than a piano is kind of played out, and the fun theory piano stairs have this beat in terms of uniqueness. On a computer, there are a number of free online pianos that work a lot better. Also, the nature of YouTube technology doesn't really lend itself to actually making music in this particular execution. Having to wait for the video to finish loading while the video itself is playing is a major turn-off for most people who expect instant satisfaction when watching anything on YouTube. On top of that, the slight delay between your mouse click and the sound playing is just a bit too much to make anything sound good, and the sound of the video cutting in every time you hit a note is annoying.

As a lesson learned on the process of creating content for interactive, I think its great. It demonstrates two factors everyone should consider when they create interactive content.


1) What are the possibilities and limitations of the technology?

The designers behind this video totally saw an opportunity to use YouTube to trigger notes on a piano. To me, I feel like they completely disregarded the limitations YouTube brings to the equation. The way they put that video together and the way the cue feature works doesn't make it work the way a user would want a piano to work. Which leads directly to my next point.


2) Is it any good to interact with?

It's possible for anyone to put ice cream on a steak, but would you want to eat it? My guess is no. Like anything in the world that we interact with, it has to be something we want to do in order for us to get any value from it. In concept, it sounds kind of cool to create something with a technology that it wasn't originally intended to do. However, that's a moot point if the final product isn't any good to use. The piano stairs are extremely difficult to make music with, but that's not really the point because they're still fun to use. Maybe you had the time of your life using the YouTube piano, but I did not like the experience it provided.

As a proof of concept, maybe it will lead into something greater. On its own, it's a unique idea that doesn't respect the limits of the technology enough to be something people would want to use. For anyone making anything that others have to interact with, I hope you you keep these two points in mind.

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Muppets Perform Bohemian Rhapsody

I'm just as confused as you. Yesterday, the Muppets went viral and take part in at least the coolest video of the day. Click on the READ MORE link to catch the Muppets rock out in 1080p goodness.



I have no idea what the objective of this video is or why it even exists, but who cares? Watching Muppets rock out is always fun. Do you think this was a..."reaction"...to any other homemade Muppet videos out there on YouTube? If you don't know what I'm alluding to, it's probably for the best.

Anyway, this official Muppet Studios video is pretty awesome and SFW. While I'm still talking about Muppets, if you haven't already seen this one, I recommend you check out the drum battle between Animal and Buddy Rich too.

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Adweek's Best of the 2000s

Starting this week, Adweek Media is conducting a poll for the best of the 2000s. There are a number of categories to choose from, including agency of the decade, commercial of the decade, and even blog of the decade. At some point in the nomination process my blog was lost in the shuffle, but I'll let it slide this decade (yeah right).

All jokes aside, I recommend you take a few minutes to vote for who you feels deserves the distinction. As of writing, I just checked agency of the decade and to my surprise, Euro RSCG is #1. As a current employee of a Euro RSCG agency, I can't hate on that. However, don't let me me influence your voting...Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG...Euro RSCG

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Do You Enjoy The Go?

Image from Brackiswater

(I'm going to try and write this with as few toilet jokes as possible)

If you're looking for your first or next corporate blogging gig, Charmin might have the job for you. Well, Charmin is looking for people to handle their business while you "handle your business" (sorry, I couldn't help it). They're looking for 5 bloggers to staff Times Square bathrooms and blog about it. Tryouts for this position are at the New York Hilton at 53rd Street and 6th Avenue. If you're planning on doing it, don't forget to bring your resume, a photo as well as an explanation for why you "enjoy the go".

As bizarre as this may seem, I think it would be hilarious to have this on your resume. It also pays handsomely. At $10,000 for 5 weeks of work, that's almost an insane amount of money to for the work they're asking you to do. If you're planning on going for this, good luck!


Original story from Ad Age

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The End of Blogger Payola

Image from Taxpayers Against Fraud

Remember the old days of radio payola? Or heck, even the more recent days of radio payola? To this day, people still question on a regular basis the legitimacy of the songs they hear on the radio. Having worked in the radio business for a number of years, I can't say I've personally seen it happen, but heard the skeptics on a regular basis. While I haven't heard the same type of criticism and cynicism aimed towards bloggers, the Federal Trade Commission nonetheless have taken major steps towards curbing blogger Payola.

Is it too late for me to tell you how AMAZING the Sham-Wow is? I'll be right back, right after I...make a deposit :P

All jokes aside, Ad Age does a pretty good job outlining the consequences and reasoning for the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on bloggers getting paid to say nice things about products or services without full disclosure. At $11,000 per violation, that's a whole lot of money to lose as an individual blogger. However, is that enough to curb a major corporation from rolling the dice?

Nevertheless, I think it's a good move on the FTC is taking steps to curbing such shady tactics online.

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I'ma Let You Finish

By now, we've all seen the ridiculous outburst made by Kanye West to Taylor Swift at the MTV VMA's on Sunday. Immediately after the incident happen, celebrity tweets went through the roof condemning Kanye's behaviour. He immediately posted on his blog an apology, but it has done little to put out the flames that have come with his actions.

Of course, it didn't take long for the rest of the Internet community to bombard the landscape with parody videos, gifs and images. One site I found compiling the best of these parodies is I'ma Let You Finish.

I know he's been making the apology rounds, but is there anything he can do to gain back respect? How badly will this hurt his future endeavours? How quickly will the Internet drive this joke into the ground?

Click on the READ MORE link to check out a few choice images.





(Don't get this one? Do your homework.)

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Twitter 101 For Businesses

As Twitter continues to grow, more and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to try and improve their web presence. For a lot of start-up advertisers and marketers (such as myself), creating and maintaining a Twitter account is going to be an increasingly important part of our future.

Thankfully, Twitter has launched a guide called Twitter 101 for Business. Having read through it, it seems like something you should definitely check out if you have any sort of social media work coming your way.

If you're already a Tweet junkie, you can probably skip the basics (such as the lingo section), but the "best practices" section in particular I recommend you check out. Using Twitter as a business tool takes makes your role in the Twitter-verse a bit different, and people's tolerance for your "Twitter-rhea" is minimal. I've removed myself from such accounts cause it was just too many tweets to go through.

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Twitter Trending Topic Pollution

One of my favourite things about Twitter besides telling everyone how awesome my lunch was, is the Trending Topics feature. I've always found it fascinating to see what people are talking about and be part of the "party line" either by reading what people have to say about the topic or jumping into the conversation.

But recently I've noticed a ton of people taking advantage of the system and to me it's really hampering the experience.

Let me pull up one example from a trending topic this instant: Wal-Mart.

Why is it a trending topic right now? Let's see if I can find out.

lcarou2148 Make $20.00 an Hour on Twitter See how here! http://tinyurl.com/mrwcve Michael Jackson harry potter WAL-MART less than 20 seconds ago from web

Swing and a miss. Spam is becoming increasingly prevalent on Twitter and it's really disrupting the conversation. People who throw in trending topics into their tweets to draw attention to their spam are just as evil as any other form of spammer.

chiquitaaa @LegendaryWriter Why the heck is wal-mart in the trending topics??? O.o weird... less than a minute ago from web

It seems like every time something new breaks into the trending topics section, 80% the tweets then become, "Why is this a trending topic?" instead of just hitting the topic button and finding out for themselves. Ugh.

Divas365 I sometimes hook in Wal-Mart parking lots hoping to meet harry potter & Nia long.

Personally the worst to me. The people who think they're clever writing a sentence with every trending topic at that moment are just maddening. Your not clever if everyone on Twitter is doing it. And the idea is dumb in the first place just a shameless cry for e-attention.

I'm about 100 tweets in, and I STILL don't know exactly why Wal-Mart is a trending topic? I found only two bits of news (something about India and something about rating eco-friendly products), but 98% of the Wal-Mart tweets were just garbage.

I'm not sure if there's any solution to spammers or people being...people. But I do miss when it was easy to find out why a trending topic was a trending topic.

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PS22 Chorus = Coolest Choir Ever?

Last night, I saw the PS22 Chorus rendition of "Eye of the Tiger" on CNN and thought, "Wow! This is cool! I wish I had a music class as cool as this!" Today, I check into YouTube and their rendition of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" is currently the second-most popular video on YouTube. They've made fans out of Perez Hilton, Tori Amos, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and more. And the PS22 isn't some special music school...just an ever-changing group of grade 5 NYC public school kids.

I love this whole initiative primarily for two reasons:

1) The implementation of more "popular" and "contemporary" music into its curriculum and

2) The leveraging of social media such as the PS22 Chorus blog and YouTube videos to not only keep the kids interested, but spread the word about what it is they're doing.

Personally, I've had a very weird and informal path discovering, learning and creating music. Little to none of which occured in school. A lot of that unsatisfactory feeling towards my school music experience came from not being able to sing and learn the songs we wanted to learn. It was always the by-the-book kiddie stuff or music we students couldn't connect with.

Why not work some work some "cooler" music into the curriculum?

I know school will never be the place for choirs to sing Crank That by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, but is there any less musical merit in a Miley Cyrus song? A Fleetwood Mac song? Heck, "Eye of the Tiger" is almost 30 years old, but the choir sang that song because the lead singer loved that song in Guitar Hero. If part of your job as a music teacher is to get the kids to enjoy music, why not work with more songs that the kids like?

Also, can't let these boys and girls go without talking about their social media implementation. Their teacher has created a blog and a YouTube channel to document their performances and major accomplishments to add an extra level of legitimacy to what these kids are doing. Even if they weren't discovered by Perez Hilton or Ashton Kutcher, just being able to show my parents and my friends what I'm doing at school is super cool. Not only that, knowing that the whole world could be watching, I'd try a little bit harder to make a lasting impression too.

Great job everyone at PS22 Chorus. Can't wait to here more music from you!

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Tweet My Gaming: What Nerds Are Talking About

One thing I love about Twitter is being able to join and follow the conversation. Regardless of the topic, you'll be able to use the search engine to see up to the second what people have to say about pretty much anything.


Though this method does have it's limitations, which is why I find Tweet My Gaming so cool. It tracks in real-time all tweets that mention video games or anything video game related. Using Twitter search, you can only find stuff if it's hash-tagged or very specific things. For instance, if I wanted to find stuff about "video games", Twitter search would only pull up results where people typed "video games". Tweet My Gaming seems to be able to grab anything with a video game reference.

It'll be cool to see all of the different variations on this idea pop up to follow all sorts of subject matter. Tweet My Baseball? Tweet My Lunch? Tweet My Re-tweet?

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Post-It Note Madness

I never cease to get tired with the crazy acts of creativity that happen on the Internet.

This video was made by YouTube user bunliu as his senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. While post-it art isn't necessarily new, the concept behind the piece and the execution is spectacular.

Right now it's #1 on the Viral Video Chart. I wonder if the Post-It company is looking at this and going, "Damn...why didn't we think of that?"

If you'd like to see how this video was made, hit the READ MORE button and watch the making of "Deadline". Amazing stuff!

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The Facebook Username Scramble

You probably already know this, but come this Saturday at 12:01 AM, there will be a mad scramble of users trying to get their user name because they can't spend another day as Facebook ID # 103898908909022. If your name is John Smith, you might as well give up now.

Are you excited to finally not be a number anymore? No? Me neither.

Will I make a mad scramble like everybody else to get the name I want? Probably.

Facebook says they're doing it to make it easier to find people, but I never really had a problem finding people on Facebook, and people who wanted to add me don't seem to have a problem finding me either. And I never access Facebook in a way where I need to check out specific profiles on a consistent basis.

The only reason I'm remotely interested in this is for the mad scramble that is bound to happen when the time comes. Will Facebook crash? Will Bob Joe in Kentucky take Oprah away from Oprah and charge her a gazillion dollars to get it back? Will it actually make a notable impact on the Facebook experience in the long run? Will anybody care within 24 hours of this launching?

Probably not. But I'll be here, hitting F5 over and over until I can finally get my hands on facebook.com/keyboardcat.

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LEADERS OF THE NEW: Jett Landicho

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.



Name: Jett Landicho

Career Path: Creative Strategy for Interactive and Mass Media

Education: Radio Broadcasting at Humber College and Creative Advertising at Seneca

Advertising Experience: On-Air Talent, Promotions Staff and Copywriter for KICX 106, Promotions Staff and Corporate Blogger for Z103.5 and Senior Marketing Associate at Pure Fun Confections

One Thing About You: Before pursuing a career in advertising, I worked almost four years in the radio industry. I did a lot of different types of work in that time, from corporate blogging, to street team work, to being a country radio announcer. If you would like to listen to my old KICX 106 country demo made from live air checks click here.

Contact: jettlandicho@gmail.com

Read the full interview after the jump!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I took a class in high school called English Media. The final project was to create a product and an advertising campaign around it. My group wanted to come up with the dumbest product to sell, in order to highlight how great our advertising would be. In hindsight, it was pretty bold of us to assume that our advertising was so awesome that we could sell just about anything, but hey, we were young and maybe a bit cocky. We decided to create "Bling", a brand of coloured water.

I had so much fun with that assignment, from building the website to the print ad to producing television and radio commercials that I heavily considered taking advertising in college. But I also hosted a morning radio show at my high school, and when push came to shove, at the time radio won. I was drawn into the whole "celebrity" aspect of it and I'm still just a big music fan in general.

However, what goes around comes around I guess. Through my experience in the radio industry, I've written scripts that went to air, helped out a lot on the promotions side and even worked in corporate blogging. It brought back all the memories of that one high school assignment and how much fun I had doing it that I decided to pursue advertising for real.


How has your previous experience in the radio broadcasting industry helped you?

My experience in the radio industry has helped me grow, both as a professional and as a person. As a professional, the radio industry has taught me a number of things, including the power of opportunity. In an industry that's so small and insular, you need to work so hard for those opportunities. Even when it seems like opportunities fall into your lap because you know someone that knows someone, you helped make that opportunity by knowing that someone in the first place.

As a person, working in the radio industry has been a huge factor in my maturing process. Not to neglect my Z103.5 experience, but in particular, my time at the country radio station was a real coming of age moment for me. I was very hesitant at first to accept the internship at KICX 106 in Waterloo, because country music wasn't my scene and the station was in a city over 100km away from home. But I took the chance because I knew it would be a great career experience.

What I didn't know was that it would also be an amazing personal experience too. Coming out of college, I sort of felt like I had learned everything I needed to know. However, being so far away from home, meeting new people and trying new things made me realize that I still had a lot to learn and it opened my mind up to the bigger picture of the world. During that time, I had to learn about country music, the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and everything about the people that listen to our station. I had a lot of fun doing it, and wouldn't trade that experience in for the world.

Ever since then, I've tried to keep myself open to new knowledge and experiences. If I could learn to appreciate country music and the country lifestyle, what other awesome things am I missing out on that I just don't know about yet? Even though it's been years since I worked there, I still have a little bit of country on my iPod that I like cause I think it's good music.

My KICX 106 t-shirt autographed by the best country artist of all-time, GM Paterson ;)

What interests you most about interactive and social media?

I admit, I'm a bit of a geek. So I already have a bit of a technology slant to me. However, I love interactive and social media, and would be working with them whether I was in advertising or not.

I was one of those kids that made websites on Geocities that grew up into a teenager who wrote in a blog into a young adult that made a podcast when I decided to take my announcing career into my own hands. It's a shame that the podcast had to end the way it did, because we were at 1,000 subscribers! And that was achieved by promoting the show through Facebook, iTunes, YouTube and a blog. I had just as much fun plotting out the strategy to advertise the show as I did recording and editing the show. When we find the time and the right concept, for sure we'll get back into podcasting again. In the world of online, I love the fact that the average person can have a very large impact on the world.

As advertising vehicles, I love the engagement factor that interactive and social media offers. There are so many different ways that advertisers can reach consumers in a way where they feel like you're giving them a valuable experience in return. And the ways to engage consumers grows every day with new technology and techniques.

When I realized that there were opportunities for me to combine my love of advertising with my love of online and social media, it was almost like an epiphany for me. I hope that I can make both aspects connect to make a fun and exciting career path for myself.


How does this blog fit into your career plan?

My initial goal for this blog was to be a place where I could bring my best foot forward to anyone wanting to learn about me, from teachers, to friends, to potential employers. Sort of like a portfolio, but showing a different and wider scope of who I am. But through the "Leaders of the New" initiative, this could prove far bigger than just me. By showcasing a lot of my peers starting out in this business, this blog also becomes a way for them to sell themselves.

I want every person featured on "Leaders of the New" to be proud enough to show their interviews to potential employers as another resource in their arsenal. Even better, I want potential employers to find these interviews and go, "Hey, this person is really good! I think I need to talk to them!" With the power of Google and the power of blog tags, that second scenario doesn't seem too out of reach to me.


How did you go from being a student to working at Pure Fun Confections?

It's a crazy story in hindsight. At the time, I was working really hard to get an agency internship. I'd been in talks with a few agencies and even did a few interviews. During school though, I was working on a group assignment where we were asked to put together a pitch to present to a small company. We were never actually assigned to present it to a company for real.

Our group had chosen Pure Fun after finding an article about the company on the Toronto Star's website. We really liked the company's vision and the idea of working on organic candy, something new and different in the marketplace. While in the process of working on that assignment, Stephanie and I found the President of the company on Facebook. Thinking nothing of it, we decided to contact her, let her know what we were doing and sent her a rough brief we had put together so that she could check the validity of our information. She was really impressed with what we had done, and told us she was willing to meet with us when we were ready.

From there, it really got us thinking that this could be a lot more than just an assignment. We kept in regular contact with the President of Pure Fun, asked for a lot of advice from our teachers and industry contacts on how to approach this pitch, and tweaked our plan to make it just right for the presentation. On the big day, the President of the company came down to the school and we had booked a school boardroom to present to her. Chris De Corneille, one of our teachers, was on hand for support. I was unbelievably nervous throughout the whole thing, but Stephanie and I both proved our worth and were brought in to intern for the company. After two months of interning, I was offered a job.

That was another eye-opening experience in my life. While advertising students tend to focus on working for just advertising agencies, there are a lot of other opportunities out there to do similar work for other types of companies. Despite the tough economic times, Stephanie and I were able to create opportunities for ourselves within a company that didn't have opportunities before. I'm sure that others can find success with an advertising education in a variety of places if they're willing to look outside the box and work hard to make those opportunities happen.

If you want to think bigger, Stephanie and I have already in a way won a client pitch before even graduating and have done the work to prove our worth. Who says we couldn't do it again? Who says we couldn't go as far as starting our own agency should we so choose? Who says you couldn't do the same or better?


What has the transition been like from advertising to marketing?

All of the skills I've learned from Seneca's Creative Advertising have proven relevant to me here. I've had to dabble in account services work, media consulting, public relations, direct marketing, online and even some copywriting and art direction where necessary. I feel like thanks to the education I got at Seneca, I have the tools to get to where I need to go.

What I've learned sort of the hard way is the differences in advertising and marketing. Advertising is primarily marketing communications, but on this side of the fence that's just one aspect of a bigger picture I need to look at. I need to look at everything happening above that, from the distribution channel to product development to retailer relations and more.

One of the aspects of Pure Fun's business I'm going to have to learn more about is the entire organic scene. Just as an example: do you know why high fructose corn syrup is an issue? As an advertiser, I would just think of a way to tell that to generally one target audience. But what I have to do on the marketing side, is communicate that to everybody that makes the company work, from the people in product development, to retailers to consumers and more. It's daunting have to tackle the entire marketing mix and make every element of that mix work together, but I'm up for the challenge.

For those who have an advertising background and are considering making the jump, I'd say go for it. It opens up your scope of potential work opportunities and if you're willing to learn some additional stuff on top of your advertising background you'll do fine.


If you could offer one piece of advice to future advertisers, what would it be?

My one piece of advice isn't so much an advertising-specific piece of advice as it is life advice: always continue to learn. Back to my story about how much of an impact my country radio stint had on my life for a second. It made me realize that I was living life in a small bubble and the world was just so much more than my little slice of reality had grasped up to that point. My personal quest for knowledge from that point on wasn't even driven by a desire to be "smarter". My motivation for learning more about everything was just to be more aware of the world around me.

It's not hard to be more aware, either. You can learn a lot from just reading the headlines in the newspaper or taking off your headphones while you're out in public and paying closer attention to the world around you. Try out new kinds of food. Read any random message board on the Internet and see what people are talking about. You never know when a nugget of knowledge can prove valuable to you in the future.

And if you keep your mind open to new opportunities, who knows what success you could have? I never could have predicted that I would have worked for both a country radio station and an organic candy company, but I was open enough to give it a chance and it worked. I still have a ways to go on my quest for success, but I'll always be on the lookout for the next big thing for me, wherever it may come from.


What do you do for fun?

I love spending time with friends and family. It's been tough trying to make time for the people I love due to school, career ambitions and multiple jobs, but it's important to make time for them too.

I am a life-long gamer. Some of my gaming triumphs/shames include owning E.T. on the Atari 2600, winning over 5000 Tetris DS online matches and being able to play expert plastic guitar behind my head. Like friends and family, finding time to play video games has been hard too. I read about them and listen to podcasts about video games a lot more nowadays than I actually play them.

Speaking of podcasts, I'm a huge fan of the medium. It's not for everybody, but a lot of my day revolves around podcast consuming. Currently, I subscribe to 35 different podcasts, ranging from a variety of subjects from video games, to the How Stuff Works series of podcasts, to news. I don't have time for all of them every week, but I have content that interests me to consume basically anytime, anywhere.

I love to play and watch basketball. Also, I love making music. I've produced over 150 hip-hop instrumentals since I started that in 2003, and have been playing the drums now for 8 months now. I'm not formally trained in either discipline. I was self-taught on the hip-hop side, just struggling to play the instruments, handle the technology and develop the "ear" till I got to a point where I was happy with the music I was making. As for drumming, I learned how to play real drums by playing the video game Rock Band. Sounds crazy, but it's true. You can listen to one of my beats by clicking here, or watch me play the drums below.





E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

I still can't top the original.



If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

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