Blogger Archive

If you are someone that has ever worked in, with, or around the Media Department, you are most likely well aware of the popular daytime programming that works very well in mining leads for our clientele. This includes the Springer’s, the Maury’s, Court programming etc.

Well, instead of cramming more insight into your brain about why these programs work, or what they are about (be it “I’m Pimpin’ my Mom”, “Angry Women Smackdown!”, the classic “Jerry’s Thanksgiving Special”, or otherwise), instead I have decided to tell you about a show you may not have heard of (and perhaps even give you reason to stop forcing yourself to watch summer re-runs during prime-time). I would like to tell you about a show that in my opinion is probably the greatest drama to ever hit Television. In fact this show was deemed so prolific that CBS even bought the rights to show the first full season (although edited into a much tamer version) from Showtime. This is the first time that a deal like this has ever taken place, the five Emmy nominations didn’t hurt things either….

Well folks, if you haven’t guessed it by now, I am talking about Dexter. Originally adapted for Television from Jeff Lindsay’s novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter (which is just one in the series of books), this series is centered around the character Dexter Morgan. Dexter works for the Miami-Metro PD as a forensic blood spatter analyst. At least that’s what he does to pay the rent.

Dexter, you see, is in all actuality a serial killer. He however is not just a crazed sociopath that goes on random sprees and preying on the innocent. No, far from it. He is more-so a very calculating, thorough, and precise killing machine - but there is a catch. Dexter only kills those deemed as “deserving”. Be it a mass murderer, or someone who brings harm to children, Dexter feeds his desire to feed his insatiable drive to kill by ridding what most of society could consider terrible individuals. Dexter derived his planning (and victim selection) from his adoptive father, Officer Harry Morgan, who noticed Dexter’s dark desires at a young age.

All apologies to those reading this who find the topic somewhat grotesque, but I will leave the remainder of the details (including all of the twists and turns) for the rest of you to see on your own. Dexter season 3 begins this September on Showtime, and the first season is currently for sale via a variety of outlets (season 2 will be available very soon).

Too bad Showtime is not a great place to reach our client’s demographic.

- John Carmichael

It might be easy, on first impression, to underestimate Laura Anderson.

Far too often in the workplace, pretty, petite women are not taken seriously, and Ms. Anderson is both of these things. But if you were to consider her as anything less than a force to be reckoned in the world of graphic design, then you would be mistaken. After all, in only three and a half years, she has gone from being a designer on the Print team, to being a senior, to being the Creative Director. And she doesn’t believe in taking a back seat on this crazy ride of life.

“Be aggressive,” she says about the keys to success. “You can accomplish anything you want. You just have to figure out how to get there. Set goals and make sure you accomplish them. You can’t sit around and wait for great things to come to you. You have to go after them.”

Anderson has taken her position as a director in stride in just two short months, developing ways of dealing with the obstacles that crop up daily.

“The biggest challenge is balancing my workload and being a manager at the same time,” she says. “I have to be organized or I wouldn’t make it. Every morning when I come in, I make a list of things I have to get done for the day. As other tasks arise, I add them to the list, and I start knocking them out one at a time.”

Talented and sharp-witted, Anderson juggles a team of fun, creative-minded individuals, which is one of the best parts of her job, according to her.

“They create an indescribable work environment that makes it enjoyable to come to work every day.”

And the other best part of her job? Designing, of course. She loves the challenge and reward of getting to design something different every day.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, creativity is a driving force in Anderson’s life, and for her, it extends beyond the Adobe Creative Suite. Outside of PlattForm, she likes to cook, paint, decorate and design – anything that allows her to continue to create. But when asked what she would garner worldwide fame for, her creations and designs were surprisingly absent from her answer.

“Possibly stalking Brad Pitt,” she admits. “I’ve had a minor obsession with him ever since Legends of the Fall came out.”

Can’t blame you, Laura. He was pretty hot in that movie.

A few weeks ago I went to my cousin’s high school graduation. While she was excited graduation had finally come, she did confide in me that the last few months had been very stressful for her – trying to satisfy her teachers, her parents, her friends, her coaches, herself, all while searching for the right college and preparing to be on her own. While listening to her drone on and on about how hard it was to be a high school senior it suddenly hit me…that’s what my job is like. That’s how I can explain what I do to other people and have them actually understand it.

As a recent college grad I always have friends and family asking me, so what exactly is it that you do? Most of the time I settle for the generic “I work in internet advertising” line, but on the off chance that someone really probes and wants more detail I often find it difficult to explain the complexity of my position.

As an IMSer I don’t just have to worry about the client. I don’t just worry about PlattForm. I have to be concerned for the well-being of all parties involved. My goal is to make money for PlattForm while doing what’s in the client’s best interest and keeping our affiliates happy. I have to consider SEO and PSM. What about our internal sites, how do we get more leads from them? Can we run the call center? Is the copy on our forms good enough? The questions are endless.

If anyone ever told me I’d be asked to act like a teenager again I would have said they were crazy, but that’s exactly what my job requires. I have a multitude of avenues I have to consider and be knowledgeable about and bring together into one cohesive plan. I have a responsibility to so many different parties that it really is like being a teenager again, except without having your parent’s money to pay for everything.

- Amanda Burns

It’s easy to see that PlattForm loves its employees. Any outsider could take a lap around our halls and tell that we are some very well cared for workers! Well Mommy & Daddy PlattForm have decided to take pampering their PlattFormers to another level. Additional benefits kick off April 1st.

PTO

You’re turning 30 and that makes this your 7th year here at P-Form. Aside from now being older than over 50% of PlattFormers, what, you may ask, does this mean for you? It means 25 days of PTO. Yes, that’s right, 25 glorious days away from the office to do whatever you choose to do. And you better use them, because if you don’t, someone else will (see below)!

PTO Relief Fund

Used up all of your PTO? On your deathbed with yet another round of the flu? Well, in an extreme situation like this, from now on, you may NOT have to choose between dragging yourself into the office and paying your cable bill. Instead, you can apply for additional PTO from the Relief Fund. At the end of each fiscal year the fund will be filled with days from those spoiled little brats who have accumulated so much PTO, they’re not even able to use it all! Then, when unfortunate souls like us are in a pickle, we may be able to pull from the fund (subject to approval and availability).

Maternity Leave

If you’re going to have a baby, wait! Wait, that is, until you’ve worked at PlattForm for at least 3 years. If you do, not only will you get 6 weeks of leave, it’ll be at 100% pay! With time off like that you might decide to have a bigger family than you’d planned on.

Health & Wellness Program

Don’t smoke. Take a walk. Eat a carrot. Get your eyes checked. Earn points. Get extra paid time off (WIP days). Welcome to PlattForm’s Health & Wellness Incentive Program. WIP it, WIP it good.

Flex Fridays

Imagine this. Every other Friday, all summer long (between Memorial & Labor Day), you leave work at noon, and don’t have to come back until Monday morning! Bask in the sun by the pool, hit the mall, or stay at home and catch PlattForm’s latest commercials during Jerry Springer. Do with it what you’d like, just make sure you enjoy your Flex Fridays.

I love my baby girl. There is not a second I spend with her that I wish she was asleep in bed or that her daddy was playing with her. There are many times when she is asleep that I go in to just watch her sleep. And if I’m not watching her sleep, I will go to the computer and look through the hundreds of adorable photos that I’ve taken of her in the passed 8 months since her birth (and yes, that includes photos that I took while watching her sleep!). I am obsessed!

But come weekday mornings, I drop my daughter off at daycare and begin morphing into a full-time Site Manager as I make my way down I-35 toward work. I review yesterday’s events and mentally prepare myself for another unpredictable day in the world of Internet marketing. Upon arrival at my desk, I start pouring myself into my websites, and the only evidence of a life outside this building is the collection of family photos on my cubicle walls. It isn’t until I hear the bustling of coworkers leaving work for the night that I snap out of my webby world and remember that I have a daughter, and she needs to be picked up from daycare!

My mind races with work-related issues until I arrive at her daycare. She greets me with that toothless grin, and I am a mommy again. All thoughts of Internet marketing are long gone, neatly packed into a corner room of my brain, lights off, door closed.

This is the system I’ve designed for myself, to keep my life in balance. I’ve made myself two people, the career marketer and the mother, and each gives 100% to their responsibilities. But each knows their boundaries, and these boundaries must be maintained if I want to continue being successful at both things I love. I cannot be the best mother if I allow my work to occupy my evenings, and I cannot be the best marketer if I’m pining away at my daughter’s photos during the day (Disclaimer: The “mother” personality always takes precendent over the career personality in case of emergencies. That should go without saying!). These are the commitments I have made to maintain balance in the busy life of a working mother.