Friday Friday Friday. It's job hunting day!

Fridays: they are my job hunting days.  It is very easy to get discouraged in this market but I've decided that being discouraged isn't going to get me anywhere. Determination and persistence will take me much further. So, as four hours have passed by, I have applied for 2 internships and 1 job. Applying to jobs/internships is time consuming. It's a job in itself. This week's postings looked a little better than last week, which I hope will continue to be a trend.

This week my mom had a patient, who works at an ad agency in town, tell her that this is the best time to be graduating because companies are beginning to loosen their belts. Gosh I hope this is true! Although, this isn't the first time I've heard that tip, so I'm thinking it's not just a rumor.

My brain is about done with job searching for the day.  A little blogging will be a good way to end the hunt. Tonight we're having Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches and Fingerling Potatoes. The guts of the sandwich have been slow cooking since 11am. The steak, green pepper, onions, butter, garlic, salt & pepper will be done cooking at about 5:30. In the meantime we'll toast some french rolls and bake the Fingerlings in olive oil, salt & pepper. Then top those toasted rolls with the steak, green pepper, onions and melted cheese...serve up baked Fingerlings...we have a savory Friday night dinner!

Hope your weekend is pleasant and relaxing. Take a break, rejuvenate. Be sure to rest on Sunday.

Love.

Cooking and Account Planning

Today I met with a chief strategy officer to review my portfolio at its current state. Right now I have a lot of content revised (which need more revisions) and little bit of design done. I desperately need an art director, which I have someone special in mind (Ahem, Lauren) and hopefully I can lure her in to help me! :)

The chief strategy officer thought my cook book concept is good, just needs to be executed better. One of the ways to execute better is by a "forward" at the beginning. If I can give a vivid description of who I am, how I'm participating in social networking, how I think digitally, and describe the link between cooking and account planning - I'll be set. So I better get working. She also suggested to have someone write the forward for me, so if you'd like to volunteer to write my forward, let me know. :)

Account Planners develop creative briefs for the creatives to follow when developing the campaign. She described CB's like the blueprints for a home. Great way to describe creative briefs. Just to let you know, CB = Creative Brief. I'll probably continue to use CB in my posts.

Cooking a beautiful meal takes a lot of time, effort, and patience. The perfect amount of spices, the perfect amount of ingredients, the perfect amount of baking time, the perfect amount of love.  The savory tastes and the beautiful smells of a perfected meal are worth the amount time and effort put into the cooking.

A tightly crafted creative brief takes a lot of research, time and effort. All the information taken from researching consumer behaviors, preferences, motivations must be analyzed carefully.  From all the information gathered from the research, key insights that are identified and pulled by an account planner will help effectively craft a creative brief that has an edge, something unique, an exciting direction to give the creatives.  The research, time, and effort is all worth it when a creative brief sparks inspiration and excitement into the creative team.

My descriptions of cooking and account planning will be a work in progress in the next couple weeks. When I feel like I'm getting closer, I'll post the descriptions and see what you all think.

A delicious meal and an inspiring brief takes diligence, patience, and thoroughness. 
I'm hungry now.

I would love to make this for dinner but chances are I don't have all the ingredients.

 Photo Credit- Food Network

Grilled Chicken Recipe with Spiced Mint Yogurt

Ingredients:
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- 3 tbsp diced green onions
- 2 1/4 cups plain, fat free yogurt
- 2 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 3/4 cup whole, fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mint leaves
- 1 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of the yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoons olive oil, the salt, pepper and spices. Add the chicken and turn until well coated. Marinate at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes. While the chicken is marinating, preheat the grill. Stir together the remaining 1 1/4 cups yogurt, the 1/4th cup chopped mint leaves, and 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice and salt to taste. Reduce the grill to moderate heat. Discard the marinade and grill the chicken on a lightly oiled grill rack (you can use non fat grill cooking spray for this), turning occasionally, for about 10-12 minutes (until the chicken is cooked through). Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. In a small bowl, toss together the remaining oil, shallots and mint. Drizzle the chicken with the yogurt sauce and top with green onions and mint mixture.

I hope all of you are hungry now too.

Love. 

 

My new best friend: Art of French Cooking

As I was researching how to put my account planning portfolio together I stumbled upon someone who designed her portfolio around a passport. I thought this was brilliant because not only are we seeing what she has accomplished at school as an account planner, but we are seeing what she has a passion for aside from work: traveling.


My big task was to do the same: tell a story behind my portfolio and my work.

My mom and I like to go on walks with our pup, Lexi (a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel). We always have good conversations on our walks. Whenever I am stumped about something or need advice, our walks are the perfect time for me to talk to her about what's on my mind.  It was a Thursday evening. We were walking along Birch Street towards Rice Lake School.  The temp was a little cool, but the spring evening sun felt good on our faces. I brought up my dilemma on what to shape my portfolio around.  Within just TEN MINUTES we had an idea. My mom began talking about things I enjoy to do.  Cooking and baking came up because the two of us are always talking about the new recipes we've tried and the old recipes we love. It's something we enjoy together.

Cooking has always been enjoyable for me. I remember my first cookbook - it was Minnie Mouse's cookbook - full of fun, colorful, kid-friendly recipes. We made all sorts of yummy food from that cookbook together. I have many good memories that have cooking or baking in them. For example: the first time Charlie came over to my parent's (before we were dating), he saw the big bag of chocolate chips that my mom always buys and couldn't resist from digging in. He decided to make himself at home in the kitchen and bake some chocolate chip cookies. Everyone RAVED about those cookies! My family ate the whole batch by the next day. We still talk about those cookies. Great first impression. Who knew that would be the guy I'd marry?

A portfolio with a cookbook theme. I want this to be a classic cookbook. My inspiration is Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The challenge is to make sure that my theme won't confuse the person looking at my portfolio. The most important part of this is my content - I need it to shine, be the center of attention.  The cookbook theme is just a compliment to my content - it needs to spark curiosity and interest when one picks up my portfolio. I really believe if I can pull this off, I will set myself apart from my competition and stand out.

As of right now, I am using a vintage green/blue with a splash of dark purple for my color palette.  For typography, a classic serif font. 

Not only will someone know what I have to offer as an account planner, but they will also know someone about my personal life through my portfolio.  My hope is that this will make me memorable because I am giving more than what a typical portfolio offers.

I have a portfolio critique tomorrow - so I'm trying to get as much of the layout completed as I can. I'd like to show the person critiquing a base of what the whole thing will look like.  Much of my content is revised, it's just the design that needs work.  SIX short WEEKS until graduation!

Thanks Momma for that Thursday evening walk! It has changed my life the past couple weeks and I'm sure it will continue to have a lasting impact. Love you!

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I've tried so many yummy recipes that I'm going to start sharing them with you.  So much to tell you and blog about - wish I had more time! Stay tuned.

Love.

I want to spend time with you.

I finally feel a sense of accomplishment because I have successfully chosen a direction for my portfolio. Although I really love creative, my talents would be better used on the account side. The good news about account planning is that I will be engaged throughout the whole campaign process. My job doesn't stop at the research. Creatives tend to think anything to do with the account side is dry and boring - they're so wrong. Account planning is where it's at.

Account planning is fairly new to ad agencies - I think sometime in the 80's account planning really launched in the U.S. The importance of research has grown in developing campaigns - even more in researching consumers.  That's where account planners come in. They spend quality time with consumers - searching for important insights that can bridge the relationship between the client and the consumer.  There's more to it - but I'll continue to explain planning throughout my entries.

I want to know what makes you tick. Where do you buy groceries? Where do you go on vacation? Do you cook? Do you have a favorite brand? Do you shop online? What are your interests? Do you have a morning routine? So many questions! I could go on and on. 

I could pick up on so many different insights into what makes you tick, unique, interesting, boring, happy, sad, motivated by just spending time with you and asking the right questions. 

Since I love people I knew that being a planner would be a good option. There's more reason as to why I'll be a good planner - more on that later. Stay tuned.

Love. 

PS I had a dream about pie last night. Next time I write an entry at night, I'll be avoiding food.

It's the full pie. Not just a slice.

Recently I've noticed that I am attracted to blogs and tweets that are more than just business talk. I enjoy tuning in to people who are well-rounded in their posts - meaning talking about their careers/industries AND personal life. I want to know more than just the trends/latest news on what is going on in their chosen field. Give me substance. Who are you? Do you have a cat? What did you do last weekend? Did your kid just discover his/her boogers and begin eating them?

It is forced down my throat that anything and everything that you post online needs to have content and substance - something to give the reader to chew on. I'm tired of always seeing controversial statistics, new facts, the latest trend, etc. Don't get me wrong - I like to see those things and learn about them but give me something out of the ordinary every once in awhile. I have started to unfollow/unsubscribe to twitter accounts and blogs that are stale and have a stench of ordinary. I'm sure there are others out there that agree with me. However, I don't think too many are vocal about it.

With all that said, I think you can tell what kind of blog this will be. Yes, I will talk about account planning, advertising industry, social media, new media, creative research, cultural/social trends, branding, creative briefs, cultural briefs and so on. There are so many interesting things in this category I will gab about! However, in addition to all of that, I will be telling you about my life, my faith, my adventures, my struggles, my love, my family, my goals, my passions and much more.

I firmly believe for you to know who I am in my work life and my personal life - you need to know both. Each are unique and different but similar. My goal is for this blog to set me apart from other blogs. I want this to be memorable and interesting. Authentic.

More to come. Time for sweet dreams.

Love.

PS My favorite kind of pie is pecan. But it's not just any pecan pie. It's Grandma Crouch's pecan pie. It's heavenly and sinful at the same time. YUM

Step One: Write first entry.

Although I have followed blogs for a long time, it's taken me awhile to get going on my own. The problem was defining my blog. I knew I wanted to write about my life, but I wanted more to it - more depth - more content. So I sat on my blogger account for a couple years pondering what to do with it. Honestly, this task was daunting for me.

I am now the proud owner/writer/contributor/mind/creator behind heartofaccountplanner.blogspot.com, The Heart of an Account Planner! I'm sure you are puzzled by the title. No worries, I'll explain. Actually, every post will explain!

I have now (FINALLY) entered into my last quarter at The Art Institute International MN. I have been attending since fall of 2007. Long story short, after I graduated high school ('04) I attended Century College and transferred to AiMN to get the creative side of education. My degree will be a BS in Advertising. It's been a long journey, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.


Through the advertising program at AiMN students will develop a portfolio by the time they graduate that will typically have an emphasis on the creative side of advertising or the account side. I am going the account side - thus the title of my blog!
This about good for a little intro. I'm headed out to a long, long night class. Trust me, I'd rather continue my first entry. More to come soon. Stay tuned.
Love.