January 2009

When you think of a typical work day you picture; desk, computer, meetings, conference calls, decisions, problems, solutions, etc.  Well ladies and gentlemen the typical workday has now changed. We’ve got trouble. Right here in PlattForm City. Trouble with a capital “T” And that rhymes with “P” and that stands for Ping Pong. Ping Pong, AKA, Pong, AKA Ball, AKA Ping-a-ding Pongalicious, has invaded the walls of Plattform. It is corrupting the minds of our workforce. It encourages our children to eat puppies (or so I hear). This once friendly game to get you out of your desk and keep your mind off work for 10 minutes has turned into an egregious, pernicious, percutaneous, challenge amongst fellow PlattFormers.  Who can hold their head high and who must walk with their head down because they cannot win a match?  “Ha, in your face!”  is the new “Good Morning.”

The Ping-Pong distribution list, allegedly, hypothetically, a list I have never heard of and am definitely not on, has been turned into a veritable battleground of vitriol gloating.  The obsession with the game has begun to dip into the pockets of these PlattFormers.  Some have gone as far as purchasing their own special ping pong paddle.  Some, just bother other peoples’ paddles without asking them, with no regard for the concept of ownership. The paddles that PlattForm purchased to keep down in the rec room were not good enough for these hard core pongers.  These paddles are usually hidden in desks so nobody else can have an advantage of having a better paddle.

This game, that has now made the geeky guys cool, has excited people to the point that they wake up in the morning and say “yes, I get to play some pong today!”  That feeling they get when they reach 21 first is indescribable and cannot be replicated with their obviously satisfying, well managed, and completely focused upon projects.  So why not stay down there and play another game?  What is another 10 minutes when you could experience that coveted feeling of victory and fame!

Hey, want to play?

Let’s face it … I have THE single coolest job at PlattForm.  Somewhere along the way, I became the PForm’s Media Ambassador To All Things Cool.  (Uh, my self-imposed title – not theirs.)  I represent PForm at hundreds of charity events.  I hobknob at a majority of the job fairs.  And if there’s a cocktail reception/soiree/wingding that involves a client or other ad firm, I’d like to think I’m the life of the party.
If you’re gonna have a smiling face to represent PForm, it might as well be yours truly.  I mean — other than Michael & Tamie Platt, of course.  I recently landed a great gig going behind-the-scenes of the hit ABC show “Lost”.  What could that possibly have to do with the career college sector?  You’d be surprised.

Turns out two career college graduates of The DAVE School in Orlando do a majority of the visual effects for the show.  Who knew?  Even more bizarre, while the show is shot in Hawaii, the FX are done in PForm’s own backyard of Kansas City.  Both grads spent about a year learning the tricks of the trade … and now they’re working on several hit TV shows.   You’ll be able to read more about these two ingénues and The DAVE School in an upcoming Career College Central Magazine cover story.

Speaking of cover stories, you’ll soon get to meet Christina Machamer.  She may be the career college sector’s single biggest success story.  Fresh from the halls of the Culinary Institute of America, Christina became an overnight sensation on FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”  She went on to win the reality competition (and a whopping $250,000) and now rules as the show’s reigning culinary champ.  And yesterday, I had the chance to interview her.

Christina has gone from being a freshly-scrubbed culinary grad to helping run one of the most prestigious restaurants in Los Angeles … Gordon Ramsey’s London West Hollywood.   Celebrity Chef Ramsey made an unexpected appearance during the shoot and was quick to point out that – yes, he clearly had made the right choice picking Christina.   Christina, meanwhile, seems to relish in her new role – media darling.

Needless to say, I’m starting off 2009 with quite the bang at PForm.  So many great assignments, so little time.  Stay tuned, my dear readers.  In the coming months, I’m off to Orlando, St. Louis, Chicago and Sacramento … and I’ll have more adventures and interesting stories to share.  And God willing, the occasional brush(es) with greatness.

What is Hulu you ask? Its a website. Some folks have coined it as “The YouTube Killer”, but essentially(according to the completely trustworthy sources of wikipedia) hulu.com is the joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp that allows visitors to watch online video content in both segments and full formats.  What’s most important is that you can watch what you want, when you want, for FREE.  This includes recent and archived TV programming, SNL best of skits, Movies (Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, MGM, etc.), and drum roll please….  the LIVE feed of the Presidential Inauguration on 1/20/2009.  All of this with limited commercial interruption.

I would love to dive into the advertising ramifications of all of this – how can PF clients utilize this site in order to derive lead flow, but I am keeping the blog short this month, as you should probably spend some time checking out the website instead:

www.hulu.com

Perhaps that topic will be covered in February!

And as a treat for those who like trivia – Hulu is actually derived from a Chinese Proverb meaning “holder of precious things” (again wikipedia)

I work with Kari Fajen.  She’s one of the Client Service gurus that keep things running smoothly upstairs.  Without Kari, Lord only knows what could happen.  She’s part of a team that holds this place together and the liaison between PlattForm and most of the outside world.

Kari has yearned to be a reality TV show star since, well, birth.  She’s tried out for countless shows and countless shows have summarily dismissed her.  Of course, since all of her friends have landed on reality shows – she was determined to hit the airwaves.  On January 5th, Kari finally became a media darling.  She debuted as one of the new potential suitors for the 13th season of “The Bachelor”.

According to Kari, she auditioned for “The Bachelor” at the end of May.  “My mother called me at work that day and told me she heard about the auditions,” Kari said.  “ I spent the afternoon frantically running around getting together a few photos, filling out questionnaire, and making myself look presentable.”

It must have worked.  So far Kari has remained unscathed through Week III.

Kansas City is a popular stomping ground to find reality TV contestants.  Uh, David Cook from “American Idol”, anyone?  From “The Real World” to “Survivor”, all the big shows have had Kansas City connections.  Of course, that meant karma and fate were on her side.  And, in Kari’s case, some mighty big hair.

Kari won’t admit it – but she’s competitive.  She has to be … besides being an “Advertising Executive” (her title on “The Bachelor”) … she’s also a Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader.  Imagine fighting for airtime with thirty other girls.  Oh wait, she should be a shoo-in as a bachelorette.  When her friends landed TV shows, clearly it was motivation to keep auditioning.

“It must be that Midwest personality that works,” Kari said.  “What’s not fair is how many of my friends were on reality television before me.  My close friend in high school was on ‘Beauty and the Geek’, my college cheerleading partner was on ‘Survivor: Guatemala’, my friend Marcus was on ‘Love Connection’, ‘Change of Heart’ and three episodes of ‘Blind Date’.  Chiefs Cheerleader’s own Melina was on ‘Average Joe’”.

In case, you didn’t know Kansas City is rated the single worst place for dating according to Sperling’s Best Places.  Perhaps Kari will find love on “The Bachelor”?  One thing is for sure – this has officially secured her place in the reality TV archives.  And like I always said, Kari – if we can put a man on the moon, we can put one on you.

If you check out photos from Katie Tomlinson’s childhood, like those included with her company bio, what do you see? A little angel, right?

“Wrong,” declares Katie. “I was anything but! In fact, I wasn’t just adventuresome, I tortured my parents.”

Tortured?

When you listen to her stories, you will see her point.

How about:

• At age two or three, Katie so practiced ignoring what her parents told her that they referred her to a hearing specialist, fearing she might be suffering an auditory deficit. Nope, just an attention-to-parental-instruction deficit—little Katie’s ears worked just fine.
• At about age six, Katie found herself embroiled in an emotional disagreement with her mother. Echoing the expert conflict resolution skills shown on TV—of a quarrelsome wife who’d dumped her husband’s clothes in the street—Katie began tossing her possessions to the curb, from her second-floor bedroom window. She was starting in on the furniture before her mother restrained her. You might say she pitched a fit by pitching her stuff—no doubt an arresting and Amityville-esque diversion for the neighbors!
• By age ten or so, Katie’s tastes didn’t fit her mother’s well-intentioned but not always appetizing efforts to serve healthy meals. She literally went round and round with her parents about eating, her father chasing her around the table.  Told to sit until she took a bite, she sat; mealtime incarceration merging, hours later, into bedtime.
• Before she turned 12, Katie’s parents had accrued an entire library of resources on “Dealing with the Strong Willed Child,” —including titles like, “Raising Your Own Rosemary’s Baby.”

Here’s the kicker: By age 15, those typically ‘terrible teen’ years, Katie’s inner angel began shining through as the “play nice” credo of kindergarten belatedly kicked in. Katie became Best Friends Forever with her perfectly nice older sister and formerly embattled parents, who promptly exorcised their collection of child-rearing books via a garage sale. She calmly proceeded through high school and a degree in business and psychology (hmmm) with an emphasis on information systems.

To watch her today, in her scary-neat office, ensconced in her macro-developing, program-reporting, Excel spreadsheet guru-ing and media analyst-overseeing niche as PlattForm Advertising’s Director of Media Resources, you would never guess that sweet Katie once sported Bad Seed horns. Unless, or until, you lie to her and imply that the devil made you do it. (Hint: she knows better, so just don’t!)