Rachel Friedmann

This morning my Blackberry was on the fritz when a friend was supposed to be dropping off keys at my apartment. Since I wasn’t sure if she could get through to me, I sat outside and waited for her. Not knowing that she was running late, I sat there content for a good half-hour watching people going in and out of the building, listening to the birds, the trees, and nature. Eventually, she showed up and everything was back to normal with my phone. While I was waiting, I realized that in the past, when we were not so dependent upon cell phones this would have been a normal occurrence. Someone make plans with someone, someone runs late, and the other person waits. It was nice to wait this morning. We don’t do that anymore.

Technology has enabled us to do so many different things, but has taken away these periods of time when we do nothing. In some ways, it saddens me that relaxation usually requires an activity, even a passive one like watching television. In a few minutes, a friend is coming over to sit with me by the pool. Instead of laying and doing nothing, we will most likely talk for a bit and then read. Although it will be relaxing, there is still a desire to do something. Every once in a while, we should travel back in time to the days without cell phones and constant contact. Take a break from it all and relax. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Red Door Salon with Erika

After an exhausting couple of days, I was happy to accept an invitation to a Red Door Salon event hosted by DC Magazine. It was any woman’s dream come true. From a quick trim to microdermabrasion, we were pampered, fed, and given cupcakes. For those of us indecisive about our makeup, which includes me, we were given make up refreshes. Mine looked so good I had to purchase the eye makeup they used!

Besides loving the evening, I appreciated more my friends. I have heard horror stories from friends who live in LA and New York on how people will treat you based on what they perceive you can do for them. In this competitive world, that can be cutthroat at times, I am happy that I have friends professionally and personally that help each other out with no expectations. The reason I went to that fabulous spa evening was because of one such friend.

So how does this relate to communication and connections in today’s digital world? Just remember that genuine people are still out there, you just may have to look a little harder to find them.

Keep an eye out in DC Magazine for a photo of my microdermabrasion treatment in process!

A couple weeks back I went to the Apple store with a friend of mine, to help her buy her new laptop. While I was there I found out that I could potentially get a new battery for my Mac laptop, which has made me completely dependent on finding an outlet wherever I take it. I finally made my appointment and went in to get not only a new battery, but also some software that I’ve been wanting for a while. This blog post was written entirely with dictation software. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. But it’s great! For those that are curious, I am using MacSpeech dictate and have made only minor edits manually on this post. I will keep you posted as I continue to use it.

AMA Spring Mix - Donte, Erika, Shana, and Rachel

It has been a few days and I’ve been dying to write multiple blog posts, but for now I’ll start with one. My last few days have been enlightening. This past week, I graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in marketing, listened to Chuck Porter discuss effective marketing, met some incredible people, interviewed, went to events, and most importantly reconfirmed my path.

Sometimes it takes being presented with a good opportunity, to realize it’s the wrong one for you. My heart has always been in the world of nonprofits and associations. My father still jokes that my brother and I should have tattooed on our foreheads “will work for nonprofits.” I repeat that comment often, because I am proud of it.

I have purposely acquired the experience and education to make myself competent in multiple areas, so that I can be good at whatever I do. I have often been asked do you want to be a designer? a museum director? work for an agency? My answer is simple: I want to work for something I believe in. So what do I believe in? I believe that the arts are one of the most important things to expose not only our children to, but to adults as well. I believe in not eating processed food and food made so cheaply at the expense of nutrition and health standards. I believe that the government should take a stronger stance in helping those less fortunate — will stop with politics now. I could go on, but hopefully this gives you an idea.

Bottom line, wherever my next gig takes me it will be for something that I truly believe in and am passionate for.

Today is graduation day, but I am not going. I made the difficult decision to forgo going to my second masters graduation (up in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins) to go to an event I have been working on for months and that will continue to propell me forward professionally. As a friend recently put it, isn’t that the point of my getting the marketing masters in the first place?

Tonight the American Marketing Association presents Chuck Porter of Crispin Porter + Bogusky who will be talking about effective marketing. I could go on about how his agency has been named the agency of the decade, won numerous awards, and are behind campaigns we are all familiar with – Gap, Best Buy, American Express, Windows 7, Burger King…Instead, I am going to discuss what his presence means in DC. When I moved up to DC almost 6 years ago, I had no idea that there was a marketing and advertising community flourishing here, I don’t think most people do today. That is changing. Having Chuck Porter and Mark Bisnow (the AMA Hall of Fame recipient this year) share a stage shows that DC is changing.

People are starting to take note of DC in a different light. More reality shows are coming here – Top Chef, Real Housewives, Real World…DC is becoming its own scene, no longer “New York lite.” I am excited to watch the continuing transformation and hope to be a part of it in some way.

In 1981, a tornado in Minnesota helped Richard Schulze turn Best Buy into the success it is today. The tornado ruined his store, but not his inventory, so he held a tornado sale creating excitement and urgency, with sales following. He kept up the “tornado sale” mentality realizing that people would continue to come back and so the Best Buy brand became a success. People gravitated continued to expect the “deals.”

This same phenomenon can be seen on TV as well. I started watching Grey’s Anatomy early on, before it took off with a post-Super Bowl drama-filled episode. It has kept me and more fans continuing to come back for more excitement. Prior to the show becoming popular, drama was on the back burner and the characters’ relationships were at the forefront. Grey’s season finale only highlighted the fact that the more excitement or drama the more people will watch. Their season finale included a disgruntled man shooting up the hospital, putting main characters in high tension situations and killing off minor characters left and right. I have noticed other shows, i.e. Desperate Housewives, that have followed similar paths. I wonder in this de-senstized world in which the most popular shows are filled with movie-like drama i.e. Law & Order, what this means for society’s psyche. Are we only responsive to the most stimulating messages? Does this mean we can’t go back to less drama filled shows or stores that don’t always offer deals?

Note: A small compliant about Desperate Housewives season finale…they completely overlooked a serial killer being jailed after holding Lynette hostage while she gave birth. I guess they had too many drama-filled subplots to wrap them all up.

I recently retweeted Zen Habits tweet “If you dislike or are angry at a person, you don’t understand him.”

So why I am writing this post? I keep wondering why there is so much conflict between people who interact and communicate on a regular basis – friends, coworkers, family, etc. More than a few of my friends have been dealing with angry or controlling bosses and are at a loss as to what to do. One of these friends visited from out of town this past weekend. Maybe if we all try to put ourselves in each others shoes literally, we may find that there our issues outside our control that are at play and need to be considered. Unfortunately, this is much easier said than done.

As I keep pondering this idea, here is an additional thought from Mario Batali, who was featured on The Daily Show last week.

“Generally cooks that yell at other cooks, or chefs that yell at their cooks, are expressing their own self-loathing for not having prepared their staff to do the job they knew was coming at them.”

Or maybe the yelling is just self-loathing…

It worked in New York, Paris, and Vegas, therefore it will surely work in DC – not necessarily. I went to an opening party for a new bar a couple of weeks ago and thought interesting location, good drinks, good food, nice decor – but was it a bar?

Market penetration at its best, is bringing a great product that works into a new market/location. Last night I went back to this bar to find it more than half empty, no one dancing, lousy music, young crowd, and tables setup for a restaurant.  The location will be great in 5 years and if they learn what DC wants, it will be more than an upscale restaurant. For others take on it, check out Yelp at http://www.yelp.com/biz/buddha-bar-washington.