I Just Applied For a Job At Google

Yes, you read that right. I put the job in my job cart and sent it away. What job, you might ask? Well I applied for the New York City based Media Lead position in the Creative Labs.

And wouldn't that require like, a lot of experience, you ask? The answer to that question would be a resounding yes. This position requires eight years experience but in my rare case I'm hoping that the fact that I'm in my twenties and going on 40 will do something for me.

And now you want to know what I wrote in my cover letter? Why of course I'll show you. I'm warning you that you'll probably finish reading it and ask if I really did send that pun filled email to Google. Again, your answer is yes. Enough questions though, here's what I wrote:

Hi Google,

My name is Lauren Proctor and new media marketing is my passion. I follow the beat with an unwavering commitment and think of so many ideas for connecting brands with people in meaningful ways through modern media that more than one person in my life has asked if new media communication is as essential to me as the water or salt that keeps me alive.

I'm also a Google fan who believes that your new real time search engine will blow Twitter and Facebook (even with the acquisition of Friendster) out of the water and wonders why the drop down menu asking applicants to disclose the type of phone number they provided doesn't include Google Voice as an option.

When it comes to actual experience in the field my CV doesn't have much to show but in that regard I suppose I'm only taking from the Larry Page and Sergey Brin model of shooting high right from the beginning.

I am, after all, a hard working quick study with a knack for innovation and a hankering desire to make waves (pun intended) in the Google community.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon. This is one chance you want to take.

Trust me,

Lauren
Google Voice number 347.926.3232

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Beautiful Music: Orin Lavie - "Her Modern Elegance"

Triumph For Pack Rats

I'm a pack rat, and not just the kind spouses complain about when it comes time to clean the garage. I'm the pick-up-everything-in-sight-because-one-day-this-moment-and-object-could-define-my-life sort of pack rat. In other words, my compulsion for keeping is really. really. bad.

Then I discovered the hard drive. I picked up fewer rocks and started collecting music and then words and pictures. I still pick up especially beautiful rocks here and there and often find myself slipping objects in my pocket so that I can hold a moment forever, but the tendencies that probably would have buried me in objects has shifted toward the computable intangibles.

When I started getting tangled up in the web I transfered my pack rat tendency toward the world of links. I tried to collect them in browser favorites but of course most are lost. Many of the sites would be changed or expired by now even if I had all those links, but the ones that are left would serve as a sort of continuous time capsule diary for what I found relevant and profound at the time. I would love to look back on the sites I adored back when the internet chugged along dial up telephone lines at 56k, but alas, all that is gone.

I'm going to sound like a blatant product promotion here, but the moment I found Read It Later I knew that I'd found another brilliant tool to cure my satiated bookmarks bar and the sorrow of losing old Favorites. I no longer needed to send myself links of articles I didn't have time to read at the specific moment when I found them and I knew that I'd never have to write a URL on the back of my hand again. Instead I use Read It Later, a site that stores every article I haven't had time to read and archives the ones I've checked off.

Convenient, of course. But that time capsule of a diary I wrote about a second ago. I can finally make it. And someday when I'm navigating the web on whatever is going to come a couple generations after Google Wave (a tool that's supposed to change our way of using the internet) I'll look back and laugh.

"You were concerned about DDoS attacks on Twitter and figuring out why the biggest growth demographic for tweets was not teenagers, but adults," I'll say. "Because really, the important thing all along were the rocks that made the ground you're standing on."

***

Miike Snow's music will capture you faster than you could read any description I could give. Check the trio out here.

Miike Snow - "Animal"

So Wanna...Know What Lauren Proctor Studies in Graduate School?

"What is it that you're studying at NYU?" The question in and of itself sounds simple enough. It's a non threatening way to make small talk, but the simple inquiry catches me off guard every time.

For starters, when people ask what other people are studying they usually expect an answer that can be given within a single breath. Marketing, English, Economics, or even Electrical Engineering. Simple, accessible, telling.

I, on the other hand, am affiliated with a program that's title alone contains enough syllables to make you dizzy. When I tell some people that I belong to the Gallatin School of Individualized Studies I see their eyes glaze over in what is either disinterest or absolute confusion. Those that stick with me through that part usually want to know what that means, and I used to think that actually knowing what I was studying would help me describe it to an outsider.

Now I realize that even though I'm beginning to solidify my topic of study, the good ole' twelve second elevator pitch simply leaves people confused and wondering again why I go to NYU. I'm tempted to print out business cards and hand them a link to my blog saying, "If you're really interested read this guide. If not, don't worry about it and thanks for asking."

For everyone who is still reading, here is why I go to NYU:  Within the next year and a half I want to become one of the leading scholars in how brands can make meaning in the modern media landscape.

What exactly, does that mean?  I'll talk a little bit about my theories this evening, but you can rely on periodic (or at least semi periodic) updates on my research right here.  All my posts will be filtered under "Apex Beat," as well as something like "Graduate School," "Marketing," "Brands," "Media," or something along those lines.

In the meantime, I'll tell you the foundation of my studies.  I am convinced that the new digital world in which we live is changing how we live and communicate (to a certain degree).  The media landscape is different than it was in the past, and this transformation is forcing brands to change how they relate and connect to people.

I'm not arguing that traditional TV spots and magazine ads will disappear, but lately I have seen the emergence of a new trend.  People are redefining how they relate to brands, and brands need, in part, to redefine how they reach people.

I want to be part of this revolution.  Not only that, but I want to help foster new ways for brands to create positive, meaningful relationships with consumers.  People shouldn't have to endure advertising, they should be able to enjoy it.  The push, pull of advertisers vs. consumers should be over, and the consumer should always win out.

That is, until brands figure out how to create positive communities and loyalties based on what they offer their consumers.  I believe that in the new digital world the best brands will succeed by creating content driven ideas that engage people at the core of their being and the essence of their passion(s).  In a relevant and meaningful way, brands will become the indispensable facilitator of the type of success people seek, and in doing so everyone will win out.

Brands will send messages in ways that connect consumers, and consumers will get what it is they want.  At least that's the goal formula I plan to crack in a year and a half.  

Stay tuned, and stay aware.  I'll keep you updated right here on this blog, again, under the tag "Apex Beat."

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Academic breakthroughs should be matched with ethereal beats.  Check out Dri, a chilled out female vocalist whose voice swims in the clouds above a dreamy set of musical landscapes.  Think Enya meets M.I.A in the most soothing, underground artsy way possible.

Dri - "You Know I Tried"