I generally save this blog for whole pieces and ideas fully realized.  Of course, I’m not fortunate enough to pop out fully-grown word babies all of the time. Sometimes, there are kernels of ideas and fragments of stories that are scratching to get out and I can’t focus on anything else until I’ve gotten rid of them.

I put these things on Tumblr, a blog format born for fragments. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s like Twitter but without the character limit and the ability to share multimedia. In an attempt to save these fragments of stories from being buried under quotes, Simpsons references, dog pictures, and Rolling Stones music videos, here a few fragments I’ve written.

Seasons

Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching a lot of “Game of Thrones” lately, but even in the heat of summer I can’t help but feel that “winter is coming.”

Walking these streets and feeling the wind blowing at a cool 66 degrees, I feel at home. I can’t go out every night and revel in the drunken haze of a college summer night in Madison anymore; I have actual work to do tomorrow. But I can always take a ten-minute walk around the block and breathe in a little of that feeling. The job can’t take that away.

I’ve ambled along the same streets in the worst winter has to offer; I’ve felt the sting of sub-zero wind pelting my face like needles. I’ve experienced the bitter cold, and I know how to use the buildings around me as protection against it on my walk home. But I’ve also felt the same wind cooling me off as I escape the oppressive heat of my AC-free apartment in the dog days of summer.

It’s lurking behind every corner, glaring at me during the warm months. It’s a somber realization that when the world turns and summer becomes fall and autumn turns to winter, the wind is no longer an ally in the ongoing War of Life.

Even in the darkest nights of winter, when the snow rises and the mercury falls, I know that in a few months the summer will come around and places like patios and the Terrace will usher my mood back above freezing.

I’m from the Midwest, born of the North Country. I’m conditioned for all of it. Maybe I’m doomed to be a slave of the seasons. Because honestly, I don’t know anything else.

Thoughts at 30,000 Feet

And it doesn’t even matter who the woman fiddling with multiple pill bottles, going to the airport bathroom, and coming out jittery and happy really is. In my story, she’s already the cracked-out grandmother who can’t survive her 2-hour flight without anything less than a bathroom bump and an ice cold Heineken. I sort of envy that dedication to non-sobriety, even at her age.

***

An airport is the closest thing to a human zoo I hope our society ever concocts. An airport is Mecca for people-watchers. Air travel is a look into the very best and worst of people.

Departures and arrivals bring out the rawest emotions; you have lovers, families and friends saying goodbye to each other and you have real grief and pain coming from it. You also see the pure elation resulting from the same people getting back to where they came from. Terrorism sort of killed the idea, but we all feel something when we’re watching a movie and someone’s racing to the airport to say all of the things they wish they said earlier.

On the other hand, airports bring out the ugliness in people. You see the TSA doing everything it can to keep everyone safe, but all they get is stink-eyes and accusations of privacy invasion by the very people they’re trying to protect. People think they have a lot more to hide than they really do.

Flight delays and cancelations create monsters out of seemingly-normal people. We’re so afraid of missing our chance to get home or missing an opportunity to be somewhere else, and we’ll lash out at anyone who gets in the way of it. As if an hourly employee working at the gate actually caused the delay or can do anything about it.

You need to have very, very thick skin to work at an airport.

***

I’m always surprised to see how conversations with strangers evolve on an airplane. You’re essentially invading the personal space of random strangers for a few hours, packed in like sardines.

Maybe you sleep. Maybe you dive into a book or work and turn on the iPod, if you’re like me. But maybe, just maybe, you start talking to this person. You probably start out making banal observations about the weather, the airline, the flight. Something safe, and something you can bond over. Delays and cancelations are good common enemies, so they’re a good conversation starter.

Then maybe you move onto more interesting things. I think the forced proximity and lack of exits causes most people to open up. You start telling this absolute stranger intimate things about yourself, because hey, why not. You’ll probably never see them again and it feels good to let your guard down for a while.  You tell them about your wife, your kids, your job. Your boss might be a dick, your kids might be allstars, your marriage might be crumbling.

Before you know it, it’s time to turn off the electronics and hear the sound of the wheels coming out in preparation for landing. It’s time to end the conversation. This is when the weirdest part happens: you introduce yourself for the first time as you’re deplaning. Maybe you don’t tell them your name, because you dig the anonymity and they have all sorts of dirt on you. It’s odd, how people wait until the end of the flight to tell the stranger their name.

And then you never see them again.

***

Email wasn’t first social phenomenon the internet brought to the world, but it was the first to break through to the masses. It is behind the curtains; you have to be invited into a conversation. Maybe the person on the other end is a parent, maybe it’s a coworker, maybe it’s a friend. Email is a less urgent telephone call.

Then, Facebook arrived. It’s a safe way for long-lost lovers, could-have-beens, and just-missed-the-moments to reconnect and say all the things they wish they said years ago, when they were in their prime. It’s a time machine.

Facebook is also a way for college kids to get to know each other without really getting to know each other. Facebook is an avenue for you to spit out tiny bits of trivia about yourself: you like this movie, these are your favorite quotes. Here are a few pictures you’ve hand-selected that define you. It is you, but always the best side of you.

Before you know it, a few pokes back and forth with that girl you may or may not have met on Facebook turns into a wall conversation, which turns into going out together, and so on. Facebook is the most socially acceptable form of online dating we have. It is your past, present and future all rolled-up into one package.

Status updates brought Twitter to the party, where someone (or anyone) can get a quick snapshot of what you are thinking or feeling right now. It’s a way to share what you find interesting. It is a reassurance that you can shout out to the vast emptiness of the internet and know that someone, somewhere, is probably listening.

Twitter is an avenue for serendipitous social connections. It is far better than Facebook at cultivating a spontaneous, sometimes meaningful relationship with another person, regardless of where that person is physically located. It is the movie “Crash,” translated into ones and zeros and available to anyone with an internet connection.

Then came Foursquare. If people care what you had for lunch and what you’re thinking right now, then they’ll probably care about where you are right now, right? Foursquare rewards movement, going new places, and traveling in large crowds. Through Foursquare, the internet turns your world into the Oregon Trail.

And then there’s Instagram, one of the newer portals we have. If everyone cares what you’re doing right now and where you’re doing it, then surely they’ll want to see it through your eyes. Instagram is as close as an outsider can presently get to feeling what you feel .  Instagram lets you easily and wordlessly show the world things you have created that you judge to be interesting and beautiful.

The one pattern I can pull from this timeline is how much more personal everything is getting. If you started out with email, you were having one-on-one conversations with a previously established connection. Facebook allowed you to share tiny, trivial bits of yourself with others and has since turned into a five, ten, or fifty year reunion. Twitter and Foursquare convinced you that the world cares about where you are right now and what you’re thinking. Instagram invites others to see the uniqueness and beauty of the world like you do.

The social web is getting more personal, more intimate. Piece by piece, you are shedding your protection. You are standing naked in front of millions of people, so to speak. I think that’s interesting, and it makes me intrigued by what the future brings.

Like many people my age, I work quite a bit. I haven’t had a 40-hour work week since I started my job, and come Friday afternoon I’m often rounding 5o (or more). Even when I’m not at work, I can be working. The internet allows me to constantly be connected to my work, and my smartphone ensures that I’m never more than a pocket-dive away from answering an email. Sometimes, this pervasiveness makes working too much very easy, and it is at this point that you end up living to work instead of working to live.

For those of us lucky enough to have jobs post-college, we’ve all felt The Monster’s presence. It’s that little voice inside your head that can’t stop whispering about work. I know I’m not the only person to struggle with finding a work-life balance. Every now and then, work gets overwhelming and I let the Monster get to me. It eats all of my time. It sucks up all of my energy. Worst of all, it swallows up all of my thoughts. It even starts invading my dreams. In times like these, the scales tip and there is no such thing as a work-life balance.

I like life, so it is important to me that I have one. Here are a few tried-and-true tips for keeping the monster at bay and maintaining a decent work-life balance.

If you want to have a work-life balance, the first thing you need is a life outside of work.

Read books. Write. Go running, or take yoga classes, or go on long, rambling bike rides. Take time to wander around in the woods. It doesn’t really matter what you do, just do something that doesn’t involve your job. Identify something that makes you feel electric, that makes you buzz, that makes you crazy about it, and own it. Protect it. Make an effort to find time each day to do it. Find the beauty in the world outside of your office. It’s out there.

Your social circle needs a work-life balance too.

If your entire group of friends consists of co-workers, you’re never going to be able to turn that work brain off. Happy hours and nights out with work friends are extremely fun, don’t get me wrong.  But, it’s important to supplement those friends with people you don’t see every hour of every day. If you just moved to a new city and find making new friends a little horrifying (seriously, how to make friends after college deserves a post of its own), then I suggest you and your new office pals make a pact to not discuss work any time after 9. Leave the work talk behind and meet the non-work side of your officemates. These sides exist, and they’re awesome.

Get off the damn internet!

If you’re having trouble developing a nice balance between work and not-work because of the internet and your smartphone, then it’s probably time to ditch the handheld electronics. Try it for a night. Cook a recipe you found in a cookbook. Read a magazine. Have a (gasp!) face-to-face conversation. Or, go swimming. I dare you to try to check your email when you’re swimming. The point is, find a way to wean yourself off of the technology every once and a while.

And, if all else fails, I’ve found scotch and television to be foolproof.

Two words, folks: Swamp People. The Monster tries to tell you that you should feel bad for not spending all of your time working. One thing you have to remember (and keep telling yourself) is that it’s alright to have “me time” that’s completely devoid of work. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing with a good drink and bad TV once in a while. As long as you remember that you can relax, take a deep breath, and let go of all of your work woes, you’ll be alright.

Work can take away your interest in other things, it can invade your thoughts, and it can eliminate your free time. It happens on accident, it happens without any warning, and it can make you miserable. If it isn’t obvious at this point, it’s completely up to you to find a work-life balance. It’s your choice. The Monster doesn’t stick around unless you feed it, and the job doesn’t command all of your attention unless you let it. Do not let The Monster take over.

How do you maintain a work-life balance?

I live in Madison, the stereotypical college town: full of youthful energy, busting at the seams with a mixture of stress, lust, college pride and drunken adventures. I’ve lived here for five years and have generally considered myself a part of the young vibe Madison so vibrantly exudes.

But lately, I’ve started to feel a little old and disconnected. The students look younger and younger, and now I’m older than most of them. They worry about fake IDs, homework, and where they’re going to go out that night. I worry about paying school loans and getting enough sleep so I can work 50+ hours a week.  It’s like one morning I woke up, and I wasn’t the same person. Blink and you’ll miss it, but you become someone else. 

People my age don’t really fit in…..we’re too old for the college crowd and too young for mortgages and garage sales. They call it a “quarter life crisis.” It’s a time when we’re supposed to reconcile the past with the future; who you were in college morphs into “adult” you. But really, it just feels stagnant. We’re just waiting to become an adult. It’s an awkward time because we don’t really fit in.

Objectively, I’m still young. I may have a little less hair than I did when I was in college and I may wear more “adult” clothes, but other people still group me in with the Badger crowd. And that’s fine, because I’m not quite ready to give that persona up.

Then again, I don’t feel like an adult either. I’m not ready to host dinner parties and settle down. The most responsibility I want is taking care of a dog and holding onto a steady job. I definitely don’t want to have kids yet, and I’m not trying to get married. It’s too early for that.

I’m lucky enough to have a great job, but much of Gen Y is underemployed or not employed at all. The average age of marriage is climbing up next to the big 3-0. Having kids comes soon after that. This means there are 5 or 6 years post-college where you just don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing, or what’s expected of you. It’s a confusing time. In pop culture, this is the cornerstone of the Apatow-ian comedies like “Knocked Up.” We all have a little bit of Seth Rogen in us.

When I think about this period in life, I think about How I Met Your Mother. I love that show. At times, it’s flat-out hilarious. Other times, it’s emotionally devastating. This season, a main character’s dad died unexpectedly and the characters are all coming to terms with leaving their twenties behind and embracing that new side of themselves they never knew they had. It’s sold as a love story, but it’s really about growing up and dealing with all of the good and bad things that come with being an adult.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a great time. At our age, we’re full of disposable income and the “real world” hasn’t made us jaded and cynical (yet). We’re still wide-eyed dreamers who believe in love, life, and the pursuit of happiness without too much stress or too many setbacks. Pure hope.  We have an amazing amount of unbounded excitement for this new world we’re supposed to be entering. We are rookie adults.

So here we are, straddling the line between keggers and wine tastings. The sun is setting on the person  I was in college, but the promise of a fulfilling “adult” life is still there. We’re at the crossroads between the reckless, exuberant youthfulness in our early twenties and the life we’re supposed to be leading at the end our third decade on this planet. I guess these years are about becoming the person you’ll be for the rest of your life. As long as I remember that to hold onto a lot of the person I was and the person I am now, I’m not even remotely worried about becoming Future Tom. I’m excited to meet that man.

This post was first featured on The Next Great Generation. Check it out…it has articles by much better writers than me.

Five months ago, I started a real job. One with an office and coworkers and everything else that makes a job a “job.” No more sitting on Twitter and Facebook all day and no more working remotely from home or the nearest coffee shop.

But I survived week one… and two, and three. Nearly a year after graduating, I finally feel like I’m successfully leaping over that giant chasm between college and professional life. The first months of a new job are filled with terror, excitement, confusion, and promise. You can either enter the fetal position and shake until it’s over, or, you can face it head on and try to learn something from it. Here are some tips for surviving and thriving in your new job.

Embrace Confusion

There is no way you can get through the first week of something new when you’re constantly worrying about all the things you don’t know. Accept a certain amount of disorientation (physically and mentally) when you enter something new. You’re going to get lost, turned around, confused, and uncomfortable. You might as well embrace it. Knowledge will come.

Ask Questions and ALWAYS Ask For Help

The only way to stop being lost is to get directions. Ask for help when you’ve lost your way, ask for clarification when you’re confused, ask someone to repeat something when you didn’t catch the message. You’ll appear enthusiastic and others will know that you’re interested and excited about this new experience. At first, this wasn’t easy for me. I’m the type of person who wants to figure things out for myself and seldom asks for help, but I realized that I had to ask for help when I needed it. Missing deadlines because you’re too stubborn or proud to ask for assistance is just plain stupid.

Get to Know Your Coworkers

Go ahead and tell stories about your glory days in college, tell NSFW jokes, and let your coworkers get to know the “real” you… after a while. When you start out, keep it clean, keep it safe, and keep it professional. Get acclimated to the job and the people you work with before you bust out the keg-stand stories and salty language. This isn’t to say you can’t show off your true personality, just understand that work-land is different from the dorm room and act accordingly.

Remember That Everyone Is In the Same Boat

Everyone else who is new is feeling the exact same way you are. They’re going to need just as much help as you. And if you’re the only new person, just remember that you’re not the first one. What you’re feeling isn’t strange, it’s just a byproduct of entering a new environment: Everyone’s running around trying to figure out what their place is, how they fit into the big picture, and if they’re going to make any friends. Just like you. And you know what? They made it. You will too.

Fake It Till You Make It

Above all, just jump in the deep end. Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You’ll quickly learn that the waters will keep rising; it’s either sink or swim, and it’s much preferable to tread water for a little bit than sink straight to Davey Jones’ Locker. Take on responsibilities you aren’t sure you can handle. It’s the only way you’ll grow as a professional and as a human being. As the quote from Mad Men goes, “This is America…Pick a job and then become the person that does it.”

Eventually, things will make sense. You’ll either be happy at your job or you’ll be miserable and get another job. It’s really that easy. With these five tips, you should be able to survive the murky waters of a first “real-world” job with flying colors.

[This post ran on The Next Great Generation earlier today. You should check that site daily for awesome articles]

It’s Superbowl Sunday, I’m in Wisconsin, and I have a confession to make: I don’t care about football. This sort of statement is blasphemy to the Lambeau-loving Packer fans I’ve been lucky enough to call my friends, but it’s true. Fortunately, I like food, advertising, and alcohol, so they let me watch the game with them and I’m not cast into exile for my heretic beliefs. All is well in the land of cheese and beer.

See, the Superbowl is literally “the Superbowl” of advertising.  What started out as a championship battle between the best football teams in the NFL has turned into the most-watched television show of the year, so it’s a very attractive event to brands. In today’s hyper-fragmented, ad-averse society, getting 90 million+ sets of eyeballs to actually want to watch an ad is nothing short of miraculous. Companies understand this, and are willing to pony up$100,000 per second to get the privilege of beaming its messages into the collective consciousness of America.

So in between the touchdowns, fumbles, and the Black Eyed Peas freaking out half of the country with its “Dirty Bits” during the halftime show, I watched the ads. In the spirit of the USA Today Ad Meter and TNGG-Daddy Mullen’s Brandbowl, I’ll try to do my own “Sentiment Analysis” by asking random drunk friends what they think. Here’s a semi-sober round-up of a few of my favorite ads of the evening.

Chrysler: This ad is probably my favorite of the night. While I’m sure a lot of people enjoy it just for the Eminem cameo, the copy is dynamite. It’s a long-form ode to Detroit, luxury, and American engineering. Detroit is a broken-down city, a desolate wasteland of former productivity and industry, and a casualty of outsourcing. But the city is also a testament to the ability to rebuild. It reminds me a lot of the Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign, and rightly so, as it’s another product of Portland powerhouse Wieden & Kennedy.  This ad connects with many generations, from the Boomers who knew Motown as it once was to Millennials who appreciate Eminem’s gritty reality. This ad is a giant dare (“just try and buy a foreign car”), and I really dig that. The only potential downfall of the ad is that you had to hear the copy to understand it. If you were in the middle of a Superbowl party, you wouldn’t have been able to hear the words (I had to YouTube the ad to really enjoy it). Still, it gets you emotionally invested in this country in a far more organic way than the chintzy “America! Fuck yeah!” pre-kickoff segments.

VW: Well, this was pretty cute. A kid dressed as Darth Vader attempts to use “The Force” to do various things around the house. When he (she?) attempts to start a car with only the power of his/her mind, it actually works because of the magic remote start technology of the car. It worked for me, and everyone else in the room seemed to enjoy it.

Groupon: I think this one takes the cake as the most controversial ad of the night. It’s from CPB, so I would expect no less. Call it tasteless or call it entertaining, but it definitely has everyone talking. The ad makes light of the situation in Tibet in order to sell Groupon’s ability to find us cheap things. Given the reaction to Kenneth Cole’s tweet about the riots in Egypt, it certainly is timely. But I like that a Superbowl spot was controversial instead of low-brow (I counted two groin-shot ads before the beginning of the second quarter), and it definitely raises awareness about Tibet. Feel free to argue with me. Also, check out the Groupon CEO’s response to all the haters out there.

At this point, if I had a shorter word count I’d probably talk about how JJ Abrams is always able to create buzz around a movie by being very cryptic (Super 8 looks fantastic) and how Coke managed to stick to its brand identity, but I’ve spent enough words deconstructing a few of my favorites.

I’d love to hear what everyone else thought about the night’s best ads. What do you think?

Well, hey 2011.

It’s not just the start of a new year for me. It’s the start of an entirely new life. 2010 was the year I graduated college. It was the year I moved back in with my parents after leaving one of my favorite cities in the world. I got a “real person job” and moved back to that city. Quite a year.

So, let’s get this year started off right. Things to remember:

-Get distracted by shiny things. Kids go through their lives being curious, being open to new experiences, and being amazed by all the tiny intricacies of the world. Never let that childlike wonder die out.

-Stop talking, start doing. I’m not really the type of person that makes it a goal to change everything around on January 1^st, because I know that there’s a difference between saying I’m going to lose weight, drink less, and exercise more and actually putting in the effort and doing it. This is true for almost everything. People love talking about doing stuff but never actually follow through with it, and ideas get lost that way. It’s easy to talk about change; it’s harder to actually change things.

-Laugh frequently.

-Do scary things. Starting a new job was scary. It was a completely new experience and my head was crammed full of new information. I had to meet a ton of new people. I get nervous about so much “new” happening at once. I also have to give quite a few presentations as a part of this job, which is something that still freaks me out. But I’m learning and just by doing more of it, I’m getting a little more comfortable with the spotlight on me. I’m glad that I’m doing these scary things. Try to do as many scary things as you can; it makes life more interesting, and it keeps you on your toes.

-Get a girlfriend. I’m pretty good at making friends. I like to think that I’m a genuinely interesting person to be around, and I’m pretty loyal. Good things to have, right? So I never worry that much about making those kinds of connections. Making a romantic connection is a little more foreign to me, and I’ve always been a bit closed off in the emotions department. I should probably change that this yearI’m learning to be more open about how I feel, though (writing helps immensely).  It would make my mother quite happy if I found myself a ladyfriend.

-Stay in touch. I’m worried about staying in touch will all of the awesome friends I made during school. Of course, Facebook does make that process a little easier, but I know myself well, and I know that if I don’t put in some effort I’ll drift away from those awesome friends. I don’t want that to happen. I want long-lasting friendships with the people that helped shape who I am.

-Document. For Christmas, I got my Dad a VHS-to-Digital conversion kit so he could transfer all of the embarrassing VHS tapes of my childhood to DVD’s. Memories are important. All of these seemingly-insignificant moments in life are actually the most important things in the world.  Time to take more pictures, write things down, and finally make friends with nostalgia. Like Borges said, “don’t lose the now“.

-Embrace silence. It’s one of the hardest things to do in an age of constant noise. Being comfortable with silence is really tough, but it’s important to unplug from society every now and then and jump into a book. Take long, meandering walks with nothing in mind. Hang out in the woods around a campfire. Or, zen-out and sit in silence. Whatever it takes.

-Just try. Just care. Just because you can coast through life doesn’t mean you should. It’s time to wake up.

-And smile more, you magnificent bastard. Life is just too damn interesting to be cynical and bitter all the time. Just smile more. It’ll change your life.

And just like that Counting Crows song says, maybe this year will be better than the last. I have some faith. Here’s to a brand new year and a brand new chapter in the Book of Tom.

Have any resolutions you want to write down? Do it in the comments.

(Image via)

Things are changing in my little neighborhood of blog-town. This is as much an explanation for what to expect out of me in the future as it is a reminder to Future Tom about the person I was. Bear with me, all 14 of you.

I’ve spent the last six or so months entrenched in a tiny bubble of the internet known as “ad-land.” I have learned a ton about advertising, social media, and marketing during this period because it’s my current passion. I like that in advertising you’re (theoretically) judged based on the quality of your ideas and your ability to make stuff. I like that good advertising can help shape pop culture. I want to be a part of that, so the last six months have been spent looking for a way to get my foot in the door of the advertising industry. It’s not an easy door to get into unless you have agency experience or a connection opens it for you.

Instead of zigging along on that path and waiting for the right ad job to pop up, I’m zagging. In a few days, I’m headed back to Madison, Wisconsin to be a Project Manager for a healthcare software company called Epic (cool name, right?).

It’s a huge change from what I’m used to. Since graduating, I’ve telecommuted to a PR firm in Houston. Working remotely is a strange experience, and it’s much different than working at an office (I wrote about it for The Next Great Generation. Check it out). I’ve never worked in a “real office” for a “real job” before, so it’ll be an interesting world to jump into.

Starting the new job creates a whirlwind of contradictory feelings. It’s exciting. It’s scary. It’s an overwhelming relief that I was finally able to get a great full-time job. It’s unexpected. It’s an amazing chance to learn new things, gain some new skills, and grow as a person. It’s also a little sad, because I’m going to have to give up a certain amount of writing, reading blogs, and tweeting.

But that doesn’t mean I have to (or am willing to) quit cold turkey. I’m still going to be that person who will be all-too eager to tell you which agency created that ad campaign and what I think of it. I’m still going to write whenever I get the chance, and a lot of it will still be about advertising and social media. Hell, maybe even some of my posts will be about non-advertising topics, like working with teams and all the new things I’m learning. I’m still going to read as many ad blogs as I can, and I’m still going to tweet about stupid things, interesting things, fun things, and funny things.

Basically, you’re still stuck with me. You just have to put up with less of me. Who knows, someday I’ll zag again and end up having a part in creating the ads I can’t stop rambling about. Only time will tell.

Wish me luck, folks. I might need it.

There aren’t many people I idolize, but Conan O’Brien is definitely one of them. He’s a Massachusetts-bred, Harvard-educated comedy genius. He wrote for my favorite show, The Simpsons, when it was easily the best show on TV. After his stint at The Simpsons, he somehow edged his way into late-night comedy as a host of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” and eventually made it to “the big chair” when he became the host of the coveted “Tonight Show.”

Conan’s zany characters (who can forget the Masturbating Bear or Triumph the Insult Comic Dog?) just didn’t play well in the earlier timeslot because they didn’t connect with older, Jay Leno-loving audience. So in early 2010, when we all learned that Conan would be leaving NBC, the internet erupted and Conan O’Brien became a folk hero. Since then, he’s learned to harness the power of social media to create buzz for his new show, and he’s done it well enough to be crowned King of Social Media by Fast Company, which is no easy feat in the “Year of Old Spice.” Everyone can learn a thing or two about marketing from Conan O’Brien.

Listen to your fans

I remember when Conan quit amidst the rumors of Jay Leno reclaiming his old timeslot. #TeamConan was trending on Twitter for days, and #TeamJay was nowhere to be found. The groundswell of support happened on Facebook too. Conan had the support of the entire internet; the “cause” went viral. It was almost as if Conan was a stand-in for the American worker; he was a very talented, very qualified man who had been fired from his job in a recession. We related to him, and we supported him.

Without trying, Conan’s team crowdsourced promotional material from the mob of angry-but-supportive fans. Team Coco absorbed fan-made support into its promotional strategy. “Team Coco” became more than just a hashtag; it became a movement, and later an official blog. Sometimes, it’s okay to ride the wave of support. Often, customers and fans can be used to help determine your brand’s strategy…isn’t that what market research is all about?

Get creative with social media

Conan created his own Twitter account. He has a strong following on Facebook and Tumblr, where his team tells jokes and promotes Conan. He has a Youtube channel where he answers questions from fans (brands have learned some tricks from Old Spice). He also has a blimp (oh, the humanity!). The Conan Blimp is floating around the East Coast, and if you’re lucky enough to check-in on Foursqure at a venue where the blimp is checked-in at, you get a special badge.

Conan is using nearly every popular social networking platform to spread his Goofy Gospel. It’s a good example of how any brand can use social media to its benefit if it gets creative enough.  If your brand’s audience is active on social media, then you should be attempting to interact with them.

Combine paid and earned media

Conan has been famous since before the internet became popular. He didn’t start out “internet-famous.” He put in a lot of work, cultivated his fan base on TV, and it all paid off for him when he needed it. His team also used many television ads, an in-person road show (aptly titled the “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour”), and print ads to promote the new show. This is a very good lesson to remember: the best campaigns usually have a mix of paid and earned media to get their message to the consumer. Don’t forget that the Old Spice Guy first started out on a TV commercial before he blew up over the internet. It’s easy to have 15 minutes of fame on the internet; it’s much more difficult to turn those 15 minutes into a lasting benefit for the brand.

As I write this, Conan’s team just ended a 24-hour live webcam. They did some very strange, very wonderful things in those 24 hours: Bearobics, a dancing taco, a zombie attack, and intern twister, all while taking some direction from fans. It was another great use of social media and the internet by Team Coco.  I watched a ton of it because I didn’t want to miss out on anything. I definitely won’t be missing out on Conan’s return to the small screen on November 8^th. Welcome back, Coco!

Are you as happy as I am that Conan is returning? What other celebrities have used social media well?

(Image via)

They say we hop jobs too often. We have no work ethic, expect too much, and want to be famous despite having no talent. We expect too many thank-you’s and pats-on-the-back, and we don’t take criticism well. Oh yeah, and we just don’t have enough respect for our elders.

At some point, hearing the same anti-millennial garbage over and over gets old.






Millennials get a bad rap. Look, I get it: Some of us are easy targets. Many people my age are poster-children for the Gen Y stereotype: They have helicopter parents, they received praise all of the time and thus expect a reward for everything they do, and they try to emulate Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Snooki .

Unfortunately for us, this is a case of a few very rotten apples spoiling the bunch. For every Snooki-obsessed Gen Y stereotype, there are a ton of entrepreneurial, hopeful, caring, and hard-working millennials that go unnoticed.

Things are going to change for the Boomer generation, and they’re slowly catching on to this fact. Naturally, they’re terrified, so they’re lashing out and trying to discredit us. There have already been some quality posts in defense of Gen Y, but I think it’s time to throw my hat in the ring. It’s time to stick up for my generation by explaining or attacking some of the common misconceptions the best I can.

Those darn kids want everything RIGHT NOW!

Yeah, we’re a generation of impatient, ADD-addled people. We want “instant” everything, and waiting on anything is annoying. We want and need everything to be instant: Communication, customer service, information, feedback…everything. It’s not natural for us to wait on these things.

We grew up with the internet and instant messaging, so we had a world of answers at our fingertips and indirect contact to every single one of our friends at all hours.  We grew up with mobile phones and text messaging (or at least came of age when they became popular), so we always have had instant access to our friends, family, and customer service, wherever we are. Our life is instant. The older generations are used to waiting for everything, but we aren’t. This is something the older generations are going to have to learn to deal with, because we are in a culture of “instant.”

Those darn kids are unrealistic and entitled

One of the often-used words to describe Gen Y is “entitled.” They say we believe we’re entitled to unrealistically big salaries. And you know what, they’re right. We DO feel like we deserve all of that. But who can blame us? We’re the ones who are paying an incredible amount of money to go to college, yet many of us still haven’t landed a job after graduation. We need a nice job with a big salary because the previous generation made student loans a HUGE hurdle in our twenty-something lives.

We believe in our own abilities to an “unrealistic” level (yes, it’s overconfident, but at least we actually believe in ourselves) because we’re the “good job for trying!” generation that “earned” a trophy for being in last place, just because we participated. There’s a quote attributed to Alex Bogusky, and it goes something like this:

“Being nice about someone’s mediocrity is the worst kind of mean”

We’re a generation that has been constantly rewarded for mediocrity, so of course we’ll feel entitled to unrealistic jobs, salaries, and lives.

Just remember: We’re praise-hungry, entitled monsters because you made us this way.

Those darn kids don’t know how to work

Yeah, we don’t want to work 9-to-5 desk jobs in traditional offices. Get over it, because that’s not going to be the norm in 10 or 15 years.

Who wants a desk job? We’ve seen how miserable our parents could get because of their crappy, thankless desk job. Of course we’re going to fight against having that, and we’re going to do anything we can to avoid it. For us, it IS avoidable….we’re the generation of dorm-room entrepreneurs. We have laptops, the internet, and smartphones; “work” isn’t bound by location or time.

Those darn kids whine on social media

Hell yeah we whine on social media. It works; smart brands understand our influence and want to make us happy (ALL brands should want to make their customers happy). We found a way to be heard, so we’ll send out our grievances in 140 characters or less and hope it reaches someone important.

We found a way to create communities that aren’t bound by geography. We found a way to band together and take the power back from the massive institutions that we can no longer trust. So yes, we’re going to keep writing tweets & blog posts to get your attention, and we will broadcast our negative experiences and expect them to be rectified (instantly, of course).

Those darn kids are…just like us?

There are a lot of things that separate our generation from the Boomers or Gen X. We’re very different because we grew up in different time periods, with different cultural norms and different situations. But, remember this: Just like your generation and the next generation after us will, our generation wants to laugh, love, and live. The definitions of what these things mean may be different, but we’re still driven by the same desires. Of course I’m going to complain about the next generation, and I hope the next generation feels free to challenge their elders like we do.

But for now, shut up and give us some respect for once, will ya?

What do you think about Gen Y?