By: Chrissy Winchak & Zac Keeler

It is said that music soothes the savage beast, but did you also know that music in the office cannot only increase productivity but also lead to greater creativity? There have been an abundant amount of studies on this topic with one of the first and most notable being conducted in 1993. In this study researchers at the University of California at Irvine (one of our clients found that college students who listened to Mozart’s Piano Sonata K. 448 for ten minutes prior to taking an IQ test scored eight points higher than those who did not. The concept is that listening to music might somehow enhance the brain’s ability to perform abstract operations immediately thereafter. This phenomenon is known as the Mozart effect.

This effect has not only been found to pertain to IQ tests but also contributes to and helps create a more positive atmosphere, increases focus, improves alertness, motivates people, decreases boredom and leads to increased productivity. At EMG a good number of employees have their own personal music devices in the workplace. There are also many employees who share their iTunes library. I know this was valuable for me when I first started at EMG because I got to see what types of music everyone listened to. I saw that a lot of people were into the same artists and genres as I was, so it was also a way to foster conversation and get to know people on a different level.

Some other benefits of music in the workplace are:

• Being able to focus on the task at hand without having to worry about ringing phones and background chatter.
• Wearing headphones could signal that you are on a tight deadline and want to zone everything out.
• Offering a great pick-me-up in the afternoon and be the catalyst that gets you through the rest of the day.

It has been estimated that we endure up to 60 interruptions a day, and take 10 minutes to get back to our original focus. If you add in all the interruptions throughout the day we suspect the interruption rate is higher than researched. Music is sometimes a means of escape and a way to get in the zone. Even while you are at work you can listen to your favorite band and feel like you are somewhere different if that is what is needed.

EMG understands as a company that sometimes a means of escape can lead to the greater good and that team members being able to have that choice is a valuable notion. This is the case across the board at EMG when it comes to our 9/80 work schedule, extended lunches for working out or free healthy snacks. It is great to be at a place where we all work hard and are creative as a team but we also get to be who we are.

As John Cusask’s character said in Say Anything when asked about what he wanted to do for a career, “A career? I’ve thought about this quite a bit sir and I would have to say considering what’s waiting out there for me, I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed or buy anything sold or processed or repair anything sold, bought or processed as a career.” I think this quotes sums up perfectly why being able to do what you truly want to do is something people should strive for. Productivity and creativity are essential in any workplace and anything that may increase both of these is a win in our book.

By Rob Dorsey and Christian Bright

Hobbies are a great tool used to bridge the gap between work, school, and personal time. They offer a unique opportunity to demonstrate your hidden talents or uncanny abilities in a setting, far removed from work or home. Personal expression of ourselves is crucial to maintaining the delicate balance between work and pleasure and to do the things we love without making a career out of them; although sometimes our hobbies manifest themselves into a career.

Unfortunately, when our hobbies become tied to any sort of monetary-gain they don’t hold the same value as something that is pursued purely for enjoyment. And often times, our hobbies can become an unhealthy addiction that drives us to ignore our responsibilities in life. It is important not to allow this to happen. For example, having a favorite TV show that you religiously watch and follow closely can be fun and entertaining; calling in sick to work because you want to finish season 4 of Lost to find out if Jack, Kate and the rest of the gang finally get off the island, well that’s another story.

Having a hobby can be very rewarding and gratifying; have you put any thought into what your hobbies might be? This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and collect stamps or study up on the latest quilt designs. There are a variety of hobbies one can engage in ranging from sports and personal fitness, concerts and music, arts and crafts to even dining out at new and different restaurants, testing your culinary intellect.  Allow your hobby to be an escape from your daily grind; an opportunity to decompress from your normal routine of things; don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Feel free to even “Hobby Hop” - no one says you have to stick with one hobby forever, get out and explore as many as you can. In turn you are exploring yourself.

Can you tell the difference between a hobby and a job? Are you appropriately designating time to indulge in your favorite hobbies, while not at the expense of your friends, family and career paths?

1. Gives you a chance to turn-off (or turn-on)

A hobby can give you a chance “turn-off” and stop stressing about your day job. You can focus on things that relax you or make you smile. Hobbies can also give you a chance to “turn-on”. Your talents might not be used at your day job but your hobby lets you shine whether it’s art, music, crafts, writing, sports, etc.

2. Injects Energy into your life

Focusing on one task or subject every day, 5 days a week, can take its toll. Most of us want to go home, sit on the couch and unwind. Are we really unwinding? I think work is still on our minds. A hobby can put our focus onto something that we enjoy and give us a feeling of accomplishment. Doing this can push the reset button in our minds. It can give us different perspectives or trains of thought to solve issues we were having at our day jobs. Or, it will simply give you more energy to make it through the next work week.

3. Develop & Nurture Talents

Few of us have day jobs that fall in line with our hobby. Those few get to develop and nurture their talents every day. Even then I suggest nurturing that hobby outside of work life to keep it fresh and fun. The majority of us don’t have jobs that manifested itself from a hobby. I find it crucial for those people to pick up one. Everyone has a talent… whether its one, two, three or more. Find what you enjoy and nurture this portion of your life. It can relieve a lot of stress and give your life more meaning.

4. Chance to explore yourself

If you have no hobbies, finding one is a great way to explore who you are. You can meet like-minded people or be exposed to something different that may change your outlook on life. You may find things that you never new you would enjoy. Explore what makes you feel happy and accomplished.

Become a fan of Hobbies

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hobbies/110094879012652?ref=search

Let’s Discuss

Entertainment and Marketing. Two separate entities? Not so much. More and more they are one in the same.

EMG 30-Second Rundown

As Chrissy mentions below, the amount of information thrown at us each day is astounding. On most days, I would venture to say that a vast majority of our activities are tied to a brand. Wake up in the morning and get into the shower and realize you are out of your Pantene shampoo. Make a mental note to go to CVS to get more. Look in your closet and decide to wear your favorite t-shirt from American Apparel. Get in your Toyota and drive to work. Along the way note how terrible that new movie, “She’s Out of My League” looks based on the billboard you drive by. Get to your computer and automatically your MSN messenger opens, you check your Gmail, get served ads, watch the OK Go video, sponsored by State Farm. Wait, OK Go and State Farm? What might they have to do with one another? Honestly, nothing, other than opportunity—an opportunity for State Farm to associate itself with really great content. This is where marketing has started to get interesting.

The EMG Takeaway

Marketing has historically been about messaging. Over the years it’s gotten much better at targeting that message, making campaigns more cost effective and ideally more efficient. However, a new crop of marketing is on the rise, and it is more about entertainment than ever before. Ever heard the adage “Content is King”? It’s no lie. As people have become wiser and more impervious to traditional marketing (who has time in their day?), they are, at the same time consuming more and more content (thank you, internet and mobile phones). As brands like State Farm are realizing, aligning themselves with entertaining content that holds consumers attention gives them something that more traditional brands don’t have—a personality. When creating a marketing strategy EMG will always clearly define the target audience in terms of both demographics and psychographics. What “branded content” provides is a vehicle to not just say you understand your audience, but rather to show them that you speak their language and get what they care about. EMG always blends the art of storytelling when positioning a brand and is creating content that doesn’t just inform but entertains as well. More traditional sponsorships were the beginning of this evolution and now we’re in the middle of the true upswing of branded content and branded entertainment (BE has had a few false starts as the next big thing).

Final Words

Reese’s Pieces in E.T. opened the doors and showed what aligning with a great story could do for a brand. Now is the time for brands to step out of the box and create their own content. Check out Sony’s “The Rocket Project”—it’s a story about how the Vaio’s capabilities are great enough to launch a rocket. Informative and entertaining.

Don’t be overwhelmed. “Content” doesn’t have to mean million dollar video project. It can be a small step—contests, user generated videos, sponsorship (never doubt the power of affiliation…just ask Sprite (NBA))—that sets the stage for current and future fans to take notice and pay attention. At the end of the day, before any Call to Action can be completed, you’ve first got to get that consumer to PAY ATTENTION!

3 Questions to Continue the Discussion

1. Have you noticed brands popping up where you wouldn’t have necessarily expect them? For example, at the end of an OK Go video? (FYI, the video is pretty cool….you can find it here)
2. Would you be deterred from watching something if you knew it was blatantly funded by a brand? No offense, but chances are, no. Top Chef wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for GE and the Glad family of products.
3. Got any awesome ideas for a branded entertainment campaign?

I think it’s important for us to get a clear understanding of the playing field as it relates to digital marketing today in order to prepare for the challenges we most definitely will face tomorrow. My hope is to provide context for the ideas and direction EMG is heading.

I begin with a few questions that I ask myself every day.

What ideas should we lead with? – The one’s with the best or most compelling creative, relevant strategy, newest technology, most popular or that shows the most promising return on investment? Is it all of the above or something much more complex, integrated and visceral?

How do we measure or benchmark success? Monetize social media? Break through barriers? How do we adapt faster and test quicker? Who are we influenced by? Who do we want to influence?

We now know that digital marketing can at times become the single backbone to success or failure – that it is no longer for simply marketing to youth, Millennials and soccer moms.

We have a continuous flood of information and intelligence resources to help us monitor, uncover and identify common campaign curses, unforeseen pitfalls, potential market penetration opportunities, unique engagement challenges, unconventional strategies and user experience best-practices.

Thought Leaders, must now work together to quickly take advantage of the ever changing digital landscape in order to continue to meet and surpass audience expectations; to not become stale; to determine what to embrace and what to ignore.

Digital marketing has now moved well beyond its infancy of simple electronic press kit sites and landing pages, search marketing, widgets, apps, online promotions and mobile contests, display advertising and even alternate reality games.

Think about the ground-breaking campaigns that are showing success with non-competing partnerships; campaigns that are reaching unbeknownst audiences via aggregated and unique content, popularity rankings, social evangelism and innovative creative; that are creating a personalized story and connection with our audiences outside the boundaries of the previous conventional digital campaign.

How much risk do we take, however?

Regardless of the complexity, all of our goals are singular, simple and historical. Identify the audience, both the core and the fringe, find the best way of delivering our content to them, learn from our success and failures, and risk just enough to stand out and be different.

An economy like the one we’re in is what pushes businesses to try things that they would never consider under normal circumstances.  It’s interesting to look at retail stores and see how low they are  willing to drop prices these days. Companies will do whatever is  necessary for survival, no matter how dramatic or crazy the idea  may seem.

On October 2nd and 3rd, the Orange County Performing Arts Center  (OCPAC) will be presenting a dance show, the Trey McIntire  Project, for $10 a ticket. That’s $10 for any seat, whether you’re  sitting in the back row of the second tier or the 4th row of the  orchestra section. Audience members who frequent performing arts  shows know that this type of rate is unheard of. OCPAC tickets can often run anywhere around $50-$130.

OCPAC, which relies on the support of donations, has no doubt  suffered some losses from the dwindling economy. However, with  tickets at $10 each, they’re hoping to bump up ticket sales and  that’s exactly what’s happened. I looked the other day and seats  are selling out fast! The low price approach has also brought on  new customers, people that wouldn’t have ever even considered  buying tickets to see a show in the past. After all, how can  anyone pass up a $10 deal?

If you’re interested in learning more about the show, check out  http://ocpac.org/home/Events/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=961

The tough economic circumstances are bringing businesses out of  their comfort zones and inspiring different tactics. Now that  OCPAC has created a way to bring in new audiences, it will be  interesting to see if they keep this newly discovered approach  once the economy becomes stable again. The same goes for other businesses as well. Only time will tell.

Each week, I inherit the previous week’s New Yorker from my husband. Why not read the online version the day it’s published rather than wait to get the hand-me-down print version, you ask? Well. That’s the topic of another blog. So, for now, let’s just go with this – I just really like knowing someone’s been through those articles already and that I’ll have someone to talk with about whatever topics and ideas those articles stir up.

Despite our unspoken hand-off routine, a few weeks ago, I got to the issue first! Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker’s pop music and cultural navigator / critic, has an article on one of my latest fixations – Lady GaGa. I saw her live last fall as an opening act, and ever since, have been trying to figure out what’s behind her magic. And since Frere-Jones picked up on this, too, I now feel like I can take being gaga for GaGa public. So, here goes . . .

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