Tim Thoughts

I’m back. Well, in reality, I was never gone. I just wasn’t writing. If this was a newspaper, I would have had a number of complaints about why the paper hadn’t been delivered in weeks. So as a publisher, I’ve let my readers down in the Summer of ‘09. I’d like to use this post to fill you in on what I’ve been up to and any other thoughts that are on my mind.

Summer of Change

2009 has been a crazy year for me. I’ve had some of the best days of my life and at the same time, I’ve found myself in a difficult place, unsure of where to go next. Near the end of June, I was laid off from my Brand Strategist position at b&a. I wouldn’t say it was a surprise, but losing my job was fairly difficult. But more on that in a moment.

On August 21, I married the love of my life, Janette, in front of all of our family and friends at St. Joan of Arc Church in Canton. All of the wedding planning had me pretty nervous about the big day, but I never doubted we were doing the right thing. And to my surprise, the wedding day was fairly stress free. We had a great time. Everyone seemed to have a blast. We are so greatful that so many people found time to share the day with us.

So now, I’m living with Janette in our new apartment in Columbus (goodbye Dublin mailing address) and trying to find room for all of her stuff and my stuff combined. It keeps me busy during the day, although unpacking boxes really hasn’t been as exciting as conducting consumer research and developing brand strategies.

Writer’s Block

I’ve had plenty going on lately, but I haven’t really written a thing? What’s the deal!? Well, I think part of the issue is that many of the things that have been on my mind are not really appropriate for the blog. No, not in the way of explicit language or anything, but I’ve learned some valuable lessons about business, about clients, about people, and many of these things really are best stored in the brain rather than put on the “world wide web.” <- Nobody uses that phrase enough anymore. But now that I’ve had some time to move on emotionally, I think I have some ideas for things to write about on a more regular basis, and I’m going to commit to writing.

My Career

At this time, I’m still a free agent. It’s more fun to say I’m a free agent than unemployed or jobless. It implies that I still have the skills to perform in my career of choice, and I’m just lacking a team at the moment. And that’s true. I’ve spent some time talking to friends I’ve met during my time in the advertising industry and even meeting new friends through this job search. I believe I can be a major addition to an employer’s team as a brand strategist/account planner, as a market research, or even as a strategic account executive. I have had some very positive talks with some people recently, and I hope to be back in the game sooner than later. But only time will tell.

Adults Kill Creativity

While in Virginia for our honeymoon, Janette and I found some time to visit the Shenandoah Caverns. The caverns were beautiful, but one small conversation between a little five-year-old girl and the tour guide caught my attention. The guide was pointing to a group of stalagmites and telling us that they resemble a city. Then, the little girl spoke up: “I think they look like a castle!” She was really excited to see a castle in the stone. Unfortunately, Mr. Tourguide squashed her dreams with, “No, really, if you look closely, it’s more of a city.”

Shopping Buddy Rental

Janette and I were birthday shopping for our nephew at Toys R Us last week and when we walked in the door, there was a kid standing right in the doorway. When he eventually moved, I had a thought. How cool would it be if you could rent out a shopping buddy at Toys R Us? “Hi, I’m shopping for a four-year-old and don’t know what’s hot right now.”  “No problem Mr. Laubacher. Here’s little Joey. He’s four and would love to help you find the perfect give. Please return him to the cashier at check out.”

Child labor laws aside, it’s not really a bad idea. And you could expand it to other industries. For example, at Victoria’s Secret: “Hello, ummmm, I’m trying to find my wife something for Christmas.” “Great. Denise is one of our many shopping models, and she’ll help you with all of your shopping needs.” At least I think this idea has legs.

Don’t Conduct Qualitative Research Like Sports Media

As someone with great interest in research methods, I always get a kick out of listening to sports reporters develop their stories by forcing quotes out of athletes. Hypothetical example, but something you’ve probably heard before: “Marcus, tell us about how you were feeling during the game. All of the hard work in the film room and on the field really paid off. Tell us exactly about how you were feeling prepared for the Cover 2 defense and nobody was going to stop your team tonight.”  “Ya, exactly, we put in the work and tonight it paid off. We knew the defense they were going to throw at us and we knew they couldn’t stop us.” “Thanks for allowing me to write this story through your, I mean my, words.”