VerveCast

This week I came across a fun article, 17 Haikus About Writing and Editing, by a woman who practices haikus as an exercise to keep her writing fresh and flexible. It seemed like an interesting experiment, so I decided to give it a go. Here’s what I came up with.

Call the media.

We have an awesome story.

Now tell it like this…

PR or social?

Related, but not equal.

Differentiate.

You must proof your work.

Not enough time in the day?

Prepare to look dumb.

Comma before which,

but no comma before that.

Please pay attention.

I could go all day.

But, no time for fun with words.

Clients call my name.

Seriously, my mind will not turn off. What a fun (and addictive) exercise. Go ahead, embrace your inner nerd and give it a try.

Here’s a great blog post for creatives about the “you’ll get great exposure” line. We’ve all been handed this line. Someone wants you to work for cheap, or for free, and explains that the exposure you get from the project will make up for the lack of money.

This is the important bit:

You cannot eat exposure, nor pay your rent with it, nor buy health insurance with it, nor put it in an exposure bank for a rainy day. You need money for all of that. That is the trade – you trade your time and work for the client’s money. You both need something from the other. Exposure can be a byproduct of this transaction, but it should NEVER be the basis for it.

As always, you can choose who you work for, and how much you charge them (or don’t charge them) but getting paid in “exposure” will only get you so far. If you want to do work for exposure, it should be on your own terms.

(And that illustration above? It was done by Scott Benson, the (awesome) artist who wrote the post, and deserves all the exposure he’ll get from this post. :)

Hat tip to Paul for this one.

Looking for the proper way to write “regifting?” Wondering if “Christmastime” is one word or two? AP to the rescue! Earlier this week it put out a special Holiday Style Guide informing media—and those of us pitching media—how to talk about the holidays (always lowercase, by the way). Here are just a few words/phrases from the list.

Champagne

Capitalize sparkling wine from the French region uncorked to celebrate New Year’s.

Christmastime

One word.

hallelujah

Lowercase the biblical praise to God, but capitalize in composition titles: Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus.

Kriss Kringle

Not Kris. Derived from the German word, Christkindl, or baby Jesus.

Nativity scene

Only the first word is capitalized.

regifting

Passing along an unwanted present to someone else.

(My personal favorite.)

There’s a great post over The Society Pages that highlights a Molson Beer campaign that created two different ads, one aimed towards men, and another aimed towards women.

Above is an ad for Molson that ran in Cosmo magazine… obviously targeted towards women.

And below is an ad for Molson that ran in Playboy magazine, obviously targeted towards men.

There’s nothing wrong with running multiple ads geared towards different audiences, but the ad for men explains how the ad for women was “scientifically formulated to enhance their perception of men who drink Molson.”

At one level, it’s amusing, especially if you work in the advertising or marketing industry…

But on another level, it’s a little disturbing and insulting, to both men and women.

What I find interesting is that this campaign ran about 8 years ago. That’s not too long ago, but I wondered how many people would have seen an article on the web about such a campaign 8 years ago versus today.

And even more interesting is the divergence of comments on the piece.

Last week we celebrated another year with our “z2 inspired Holiday Party” which included a 5-course breakfast at The Pfister Hotel, followed by a train ride to Chicago for a bit of shopping before heading out to Moto in Chicago for a 15-course meal (yes, I said 15!) that included 9 savory dishes, 6 desserts, and edible paper and ink along the way.

And the chefs? You may have seen Richie Farina and Chris Jones on Top Chef: Texas. Yeah, those were our chefs…

It was definitely an experience to be remembered. A big thanks goes out to Cory and Deb from all the Z2 staff for this one.

Happy Holidays everyone! :)