The following is a guest post I wrote for Bitch Flicks Indie Spirit Film Festival reviews; original here.

It’s not easy being a lady in the working world today. We’re still fighting for equal pay for equal work, freedom from workplace harassment, and the right to decide what grows (or implants itself) in our uteruses. In all honestly, it’s not terribly different from the drama unfolding at Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce every Sunday night, which is exactly the reason my baby boomer mother can’t stand Mad Men: “I lived it,” she says with exasperation, “why would I enjoy watching it over again?”

Do the liberal-arts educated, Anthropologie-clad millenials fawning over Betty Draper Francis’ silk scarfed bouffants see the irony my mom pointed out? As a card (or more accurately, BA) carrying member of the club, I’d like to say that we do. I’d be hard pressed to find a ladyfriend without a reproductive rights war story of her own, from sanctimonious pharmacists offering unprescribed admonitions to early morning drives across state lines to a clinic. While the scarier aspects of Mad Men-era reproductive health (Betty’s twilight sleep birthing experience from season three, for starters) seem like a far-off nightmare to today’s twentysomethings, neo-conservatives’ war on women makes it clear that such arcane threats may not be so distant.

    

In Rosengate’s aftermath, the conversation on working mothers is more fraught than ever. “’Working mother’ is a redundant phrase” is the neo-conservative right’s new mantra, and I won’t begrudge them the satisfaction of believing it. But let’s not pretend that the stay-at-home-mom is the equal of the working mother. It’s an affront to parents of all backgrounds: those with the luxury to choose an at-home parent over a second income and those whose finances dictate the decision. Mad Men’s place on the cusp of this working mother’s revolution is telling, yet quietly disheartening for its glaring proof that we’ve entered a regressive era for reproductive rights.

Meg Jay, UVA clinical psychologist, interviewing with NPR on her new book “The Defining Decade”:

Twenty-somethings are worried. They’re anxious. They’re worried about whether life is going to work out for them. Whether it’s going to work out as well as they thought it would. But the thing to do about that is to realize that my 20s are really the time to make my own certainty, and to make sure that yes, my life is going to work out because I’m starting to put the pieces together in an intentional way.

P.S. - I’ma letchu finish, NPR, but I made the best Roaring Twenties analogy of all time.

P.P.S. - If you love me and want to send me a present via pony express…

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This is a few years old, but new to me. Welcome to the River City, y’all!

(Source: youtube.com)

Quarter life crisis video from some Bucknell frat boys. Pretty hilarious, and worth a watch, but let’s just say that if your parents are still paying for your gas and health insurance… you’re not a real adult yet.

(Source: youtube.com)

I followed my gut this afternoon, to a place I’m not sure I want to be. I stayed the course, refused to settle, and forged on in the direction of my dreams.

I’m not sure if I was right. I have some second thoughts. But when I escape this limbo, I’ll know I was.

In need of an afternoon pick-me-up, I stumbled across this video from Virginia Miracle, formerly of Ogilvy PR and now Spredfast (also a St. Catherine’s RVA grad, small world!), on the top 5 criteria sought by Ogilvy Digital in new talent:

Warning: may cause agreement-induced whiplash among digital media-philes

Considering the digital field’s explosion since the filming of the video (2010), it’s no wonder Virginia is now EVP at a leading social CRM start-up. But her thoughts are as useful to candidates as they are to recruiters: to move forward, you need a strategic plan to achieve your goals. And if your goals ≠ what the agency needs, you graciously bow out.

The realization is reassuring tonight, as I second guess my gut.

Via

Android Market, Google Music, and Google eBookstore Rebrand to Google Play

Let’s play word association, shall we?

Apple: iPods, stickers, earbuds, iPhones, Safari, hipsters, coffee shops, MacBooks, iTunes, white, Steve Jobs, QuickTime, iPads

Android: cell phones, that little green robot………… and oh yeah, aren’t they owned by Google?

In short, it’s safe to say brand recognition is an issue for Android, Google’s mobile platform. If customers can’t identify a brand, how will they know where to purchase its products and services?

On March 6 Google took its first step to repair that missing link, launching Google Play as a one-stop-shop for Android apps as well as games, books, movies, and music for viewing on desktop or mobile browsers. Wrapped up in a neat bundle, all of Google’s entertainment services are now easier for customers to access, whether they’re Android owners or Gmail account holders.

Google’s foray into mobile in 2008 quickly found success - they’re the number one mobile platform in the world - but that celerity came with a cost. The platform’s rapid growth since its release is largely due to the proliferation of Android-compatible devices, not consumer awareness of the brand itself. That’s a dangerous strategy, as users who pick up an Android-compatible device simply because their mobile carrier provided it to them have no loyalty to the brand.

What does Google Play mean for competitors like iTunes and Amazon? Google isn’t giving up this market without a fight. For now, Apple “owns” music and Amazon “owns” books, but with a streamlined entertainment market, Google can siphon away Apple and Amazon customers who use Google apps like Gmail, YouTube, Google Chat, Google Maps, and Google Docs. Where better to find new customers than your own backyard?

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Rules of Engagement for QR Codes

Forget Foursquare v. Gowalla (RIP!), the latest social media divide centers on QR codes. The checkered squares invaded social marketing this year, popping up in GoDaddy.com’s Super Bowl ads, Rock the Vote’s SXSW tees, and cheeky Victoria’s Secret promos. The jury’s still out on their staying power, though, and social media gurus have emerged swinging on both sides.

My verdict? While QR codes’ utter ubiquity of late dilutes their impact, their ability to bring timely, relevant info to mobile web users is a gold mine for socially savvy brands. Below, some of the best practices I’ve seen:

• Create content users can’t find on their own. Plenty of this year’s Super Bowl spots featured QR codes emblazoned on screen, but no one at my party bolted to the TV with a scanner app. Why not? While we’re big enough social media nerds to justify crouching by the TV with our iPhones, the codes often linked to the brand’s main page, which we can access much more easily by typing in a URL or Googling. The exception to the rule? GoDaddy’s Super Bowl spot, which landed a Hail Mary by enticing viewers to “See more now!” and scan the code, linking to a video continuing the commercial’s storyline.

• Behold the power of print. TV is not an ideal medium for QR codes. Who has their QR scanner at the ready for every commercial break? Truth is, nearly half of all QR codes in 2011 were scanned from a printed magazine or newspaper. The brilliance of the QR code is that it links users to content when they can’t access a computer for more info. Austin’s Capital Metro expertly posted QR code posters at bus stops linking to pick-up times, schedules, and route maps during SXSW 2012, offering attendees easy access to public transport info.

• Know your users. QR code generators like SmartyTags and delivr include analytics with insights on QR users, from consumer demographics to preferred mobile devices to popular QR code sources. Armed with that knowledge, brands can personalize the user’s experience - offering newspaper or magazine consumers information on a local retailer, or linking to a web-only coupon from a QR code on an in-store product.

         Registering to vote via “Rock the Vote” tees at SXSW 2012

QR’s are here to stay, but the novelty has worn off. It’s time to streamline how brands incorporate QR into their marketing instead of saturating the media with the new “it” tool.

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Where I wish I were, Monday morning edition: @BettyDraper’s Guide to Social Storytelling, Helen Klein Ross (@adbroad)’s SXSW panel on brand fiction and content. Helen’s the voice behind Welcome to the Drapers as well as the Mad Men characters on Twitter, trophy wives and ad men and buxom secretaries personified in tweet.

Some of my fav @bettydraper-isms:

@bettydraper: Whoever invented Saturday morning cartoons deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

@bettydraper: You can’t wear your white shoes @Sally_Draper. It’s after Labor Day!

@bettydraper: Cold cream. Curlers. Cigarette.

@bettydraper: Counting the days until sleepaway camp.

@bettydraper: Mothers Club luncheon. Another gimlet please.

@bettydraper: What a waste of manicure today if we’re bombed tonight. #madmen #blackout65

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