The Ever Evolving Facebook

So the other day, I was taking a ‘break’ from studying and was browsing through Facebook. As soon as I clicked home, I saw something change in my newsfeed. Correction, I saw a lot of things change in my newsfeed. No longer two-tabbed with the “Top Stories” and “Most Recent”, my newsfeed suddenly got a sidebar that seemed to be rolling non-stop, showing me pretty much everything that’s happening with my friends, and their most recent activities.

All the posts and updates that Facebook seems to think is important to you is shown on the main feed, with the option of further fine-tuning by clicking on the blue triangle on the top corner of each of said posts to denote importance.

And let’s not forget about the new Facebook Timeline that the company will be rolling out in the next few weeks. Supposedly the next huge thing for Facebook, Timeline will pretty much sum up your whole Facebook life on your profile. Not only will the new Facebook (how many times have we heard that said?) allow you to share pretty much anything you want easier, but it will also go through everything in your Facebook history (ever), and put it on the timeline, depending on the relevance. Therefore, the longer you’ve used Facebook, the more stuff from your past the social media site will be able to dig up and reveal on your timeline—and the easier it will be to find it. The privacy settings will remain the same as those applied to your profile and wall, unless you want it otherwise.

Here's a screenshot of the Facebook Timeline...note the years along the side!

So what does that mean for us students? Depending on your private settings and security, future employers do routinely scan popular social media sites as part of the hiring process. They will be able to see if you are the type of person you claim to be and plenty of other salacious tidbits of your life…unless you spend some time organizing and cleaning things up!

It’s amazing to see how much social media has integrated into our lives, no? I’m definitely curious to see how marketing companies are going to take advantage of this change in the future! 

Timeline is scheduled for release on September 30^th for everyone. There IS a method of getting it now (for all you impatient ones, here's a guide), but for me, I think I’ll wait for Facebook to roll it out for me. So what do you guys think? Facebook's best invention yet, or not?

About the author: Karen Chen

Tea/coffee addict, travel junkie, dance performer, art lover, business student. She reads books in her spare time, and definitely spends an unhealthy amount of the day on the internet. Karen is also looking forward to be going on exchange to Toulouse, France this coming January; it will be an adventure for sure!

SAMMA Summit 2011

SAMMA Summit 2011 unites South Asian leaders from CNN, Foursquare and PepsiCo

Leading conference across media, marketing and entertainment sectors shines a spotlight on growing influence of South Asians in business

New York, NY, August 1, 2011 – South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Association (SAMMA) is pleased to announce that the 2011 SAMMA Summit will be held on September 16-17 in New York City. With the generous support of Time Warner Corporation, the conference will be held at the Time Warner Center.

This year’s conference, the third since SAMMA’s creation in 2006, will bring together almost 300 South Asian leaders across the marketing, media and entertainment sectors. Headlining speakers span Fortune 500 companies, media entities and emerging technology leaders, with the current roster including:

• Ann Mukherjee, Chief Marketing Officer, Frito Lay, deemed Woman to Watch on the Future of Marketing by Advertising Age
• Naveen Selvadurai, co-founder, Foursquare
• Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN, Emmy ® Award winner
• Floyd Cardoz, restauranteur, chef and winner of Bravo Top Chef Masters 2011
• Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Vivaki/Publicis

“We created the SAMMA Summit with the intention of shining a spotlight on the quickly-expanding unparalleled impact South Asians are having in the marketing, media and entertainment spheres,” said Rajan Shah, President of branded integration firm Phenomenon and co-founder, SAMMA. “We’re proud of the leaders that are participating in this year’s Summit and hope to simultaneously inspire a whole new lot with the next emerging wave of talent.”

SAMMA’s membership has grown five-fold since the organization’s inception with increasing support from Fortune 500 companies and leading brands that recognize the opportunity amongst an influential and growing demographic. The buying power of Asian Americans in the Unites States is expected to increase 40% by 2012, reaching more than $2 trillion.

To coordinate interviews with attending SAMMA speakers or high-res imagery, please contact:

Sushma Dwivedi                                                                              

Sushma.dwivedi@fleishman.com                                           

212-453-2381 or 917-981-9152                                                                    

Art & Copy – A Must Watch for Marketers

It’s early September, it’s getting colder and getting darker earlier, the US Open is entering its second week, and the CNE is winding down. As I write this, school is due to start up in three days’ time, as much as we do NOT want it to. Thankfully, the TIFF Festival is around the corner to brighten our spirits and bring some great films and stars. To tide all you movie buffs until the festival starts, I thought it would be fitting to share a wonderful documentary that helped to expand my perspective and knowledge of the advertising industry.

Let me be the first to say: for those of you who have neither the desire to work in advertising nor interest in the industry, but are interested in studying and pursuing a career in marketing – you need to watch this film, and I’ll get to “why” later on.

The documentary is Art & Copy and it “reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creative…people who've profoundly impacted [the ad culture and landscape], yet are virtually unknown outside their industry.” (source: http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/synopsis/) The film discusses the challenges creative people face in the industry and how they were able to overcome these multitudes of problems that still persist today. One I found interesting was the structure of an ad agency. Today, it is not uncommon for creatives to be “paired” off in agencies – one copy writer, one art director. Believe it or not, before the 1960’s, the art director and the copy writer never collaborated when designing an ad. Copy (the text and information) was priority – not the design, hence the prevalence of information-driven, boring ads.

That was just one segment of the film, which goes on to exhibit quite a few successful campaigns and profiles the creative geniuses behind them. Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me – the unsavoury genesis of Nike’s “Just Do It” and the grammatically incorrect “got milk?” campaign.

My favourite story? George Lois and the launch of Tommy Hilfiger. Lois speaks his mind and has quite the foul mouth, but listen to him speak and review his portfolio and you’ll see how poignant and interesting his work is. I thought this story in particular was worthy of a shout-out.

WHY do I think that all marketers should watch this film and not just those looking into advertising? Because you work as a brand manager at P&G or as a marketing associate at Pepsi, you will likely have some sort of interaction with your company’s AOR (agency of record) and a hands-on role in the advertising of your product or service. Having spent a summer working in an agency doesn’t make me entirely unbiased, but more often than not, “bad” advertising is the result of a poor client-agency relationship. Plain and simple. A lack of trust, a lack of creative freedom, and poor brand and product strategy will translate into mediocre, craptastic work. (If you disagree, I look forward to your comments below.)

Now, I’m not saying that agencies are completely innocent, there are always a few stinkers – however hilariously terrible they may be. I believe it truly is the client that makes the difference. Something to think about: an agency can create an award-winning campaign, but at the same time produce a terrible failure. It is the client that has the last say as to which idea is chosen, and it is not always the one the agency deems the best.

With that said, all I want you marketers to take away from this is how to approach working with agencies in the future. They may not be the easiest people to deal with, but their job is to be creative, to come up with different ideas and to challenge mental constructions and customer perceptions. Give them the freedom to challenge what has been done, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.


A note about the film: A DVD is available to buy, but if you’re an avid torrenter like myself, it is incredibly easy to find.

About the author: Deven Dionisi
Deven is a 3rd year student, looking to specialize in marketing and strategic management and hopes to run his own agency in the future (or assume leadership of an existing agency – he isn’t too picky). Going on exchange this coming winter in Milan, Deven is looking forward to traveling around Europe and attending the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.