2010 Silver Telly Awards

http://tmdcreative.com/careers/

We look forward to meeting these talented applicants.  We feel especially blessed during such economic times to be able to have achieved this growth, and we hope for more.  Thank you.

Stay tuned – BIG things are happening here!

via Social Media and Brand Reputation Strategy – eMarketer.

TMDcreative was among the top winners for their creative work with the Monterey County Work Force Investment Board, Franmara’s “Decantus Wine Aerator“, and Sun Street Centers, all local companies or organizations.

The W3 Awards honors creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award winning sites, videos and marketing programs. Simply put, the W3 is the first major web competition to be accessible to the biggest agencies, the smallest firms, and everyone in between. Small firms are as likely to win as Fortune 500 companies and international agencies.

“I am very proud of my creative team here at TMDcreative and especially in this case my web developers who work tirelessly to make our clients web sites jump off the screen,” said Nick Pasculli, president of TMDcreative. He continued; “It was a real privilege to work with the Monterey County Work Force Investment Board and staff liaison Marleen Esquerra, Frank Chiorazzi of Franmara’s Decantus, and Sun Street Centers’ executive director Anna Foglia. It’s humbling to be recognized for the level of dedication shown by TMD’s staff towards our clients.”

The W3 is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms. IAVA members include executives from organizations such as Conde Nast, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Victoria Secret, Wired, Yahoo! and many others.

“We were incredibly impressed by the quality and creativity of this year’s entries. W3 winners continue to set the bar in Web development and design, push the limits of web advertising creativity and advance the use of web video. We are thrilled to have reviewed such a diverse and respected pool of work” said Linda Day, the executive director of the IAVA. “On behalf of the entire Academy, we congratulate this year’s W3 Award winners including TMDcreative as they continue to advance Internet creativity and greatly contribute to the robust and ever-changing online community.”

Even prior to Jacqueline’s words, I had begun thinking about mentorship. I’ve always been fortunate to have had mentors throughout my life of strong, successful men and women who took an interest in my personal, leadership and academic development. I attribute some of my success to the good fortune of having their guidance and support. A good friend of mine has never had a mentor, which I find surprising and sad, and I can see how a lack of mentorship has affected his self-confidence as an adult, as well as his ability to make decisions about his future. I’ve wondered how it’s possible he made it into his mid-30s, graduated from college and hop-scotched through a succession of jobs without ever once being taken under the wing of someone older and wiser who wanted to help him grow or expand his horizons.

Do you see yourself as a mentor? For a long time, I did not. It shocked me when in my late 20s, a woman at my office in her early 20s wrote me a note saying how thankful she was that I would spend time with her, answering questions about her job, talking about my own career experience and giving her advice. She wrote that she valued my mentorship. And I remember thinking, “WHAT!? I’m not a mentor. I have mentors, but I’m not one.” But if she found our chats helpful, then great! The revelation allowed me to think of my own life and career experiences differently. I thought I needed a lot more life and job experience before I could be someone’s mentor, but she showed me mentorship can happen at any time.

Looking back, I’m somewhat disappointed now in the coaches, instructors and troop leaders who missed an opportunity to connect with me. Sports, classes and youth activities are often the best situations for mentorship to develop. But not for all kids, and definitely not for me. My mentors reached out to me and invited me to do something special outside a group. One-on-one chats or going to lunch, attending events as someone’s guest, or an activity together made the biggest impacts on me. The mentors for me who made the biggest impact (parents aside) were my Aunt Susan; the dean of the school of business at CSU Sacramento; my first two bosses, Jim Philips and John Hatfield (who remain in touch to this day)’ Elise Moritz, a co-worker; Bari Love, the head of PR at one of my ad agency jobs; Phil Rubin, a coworker; and a few local people.

I’m not sure if I could be considered a mentor to anyone at this point, and that bothers me. I intend to take action to rectify that (thanks, Jacqueline!), and I hope you will do the same.

The county ranked 51st out of 59 counties in terms of percent of the population that is overweight (61.78 percent), ranked 48th in obesity (24.99 percent), and ranked 42nd in inactivity (74.35 percent, defined as less than 20 minutes vigorous activity three times a week).

Scoring so poorly in these three major risk factors means our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers are at significant risk of becoming afflicted with diabetes. However, Monterey County ranks 4th in the percentage of our population that consumes less than five servings per day of fruits and vegetables. This means the residents of 55 other California counties have larger percentages of their populations that eat worse than we do. It might help that we live in the Salad Bowl of the World. Unfortunately, this high-ranking score doesn’t mean we’re doing well with our diets. That ranking equates to 43.25 percent who eat fewer than five servings per day of fruits and vegetables – that’s a lot of people eating poorly.

The Alisal Union School District is doing its part to improve those statistics. Alisal is a partner in the Network for a Healthy California program, whose mission is to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the physical activity of students and their families. The program, branded Champions for Change, teaches students the importance of healthy eating and healthy living.

Champions for Change, according to the Web site www.cachampionsfor change.net, are people – just like you – who are using their power to help their families prevent serious health problems, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer, by helping their families eat more fruits and vegetables and be more physically active.

Alisal’s Champions for Change program works with first-grade through sixth-grade students. The goal is for students to learn about the benefits of fruits and vegetables and of physical activity so they will be able to make wiser choices, and to be exposed to fruits and vegetables they might not normally eat. Nutrition Educators meet with classes and present nutrition education, as well as cross-curricular lessons incorporating science, language arts, math, health, English language development and physical fitness.

For kindergarten and pre-kinder students, Alisal’s Champions for Change introduced a new character named “Frijolito,” who has become quite popular. All students taste new fruits and vegetables, and learn a variety of nutrition and health- related subjects, such as safe produce handling. They also cover topics such as the new food pyramid, portion control and nutrients.

At each of the 11 district schools, Champions for Change maintains a vegetable garden used to enhance nutrition education and provide a source of physical activity. Students work in the gardens, learning firsthand about food systems from planting to harvesting and preparation. Students can also visit the gardens during their lunch hour and after school. Occasionally, the students harvest enough produce to provide some to their school cafeteria salad bars. Local farmers visit the school gardens and teach students about agriculture, and sometimes take students on field trips to local commercial farms.

Alisal’s Champions for Change is always looking for volunteers and equipment donations for their gardens. To volunteer or donate, or for information about this worthwhile program, contact Petra Martinez, program coordinator, at 831-783-3395. Or online, visit www.alisal.org. Click: Departments/ Educational Services/Network for a Healthy California.

Another fantastic resource for physical activity is the Salinas Community YMCA. Y programs for youth and teens include: judo, karate, rock climbing, basketball, swim team, water polo, weight training, volleyball and much, much more. The Y has resources for adults as well, including a popular Twelve-Weeks to Fitness program, and classes for yoga, cycling, swimming, Pilates, step aerobics, basketball, volleyball, kick boxing, and so much more. Information, call 831-758-3811 or visit www.centralcoastymca.org.

In the interest of full disclosure: For a year, I chaired this Marketing & Communications (MARCOM) committee, which is composed of four subcommittees, each devoting a majority of its efforts towards either peace, prosperity, image or outreach. Today, I remain involved as a committee member, and I am honored to serve alongside approximately 10 other volunteers and a handful of city staff and council members. I don’t expect most people to know about this committee, nor should they, but I hope the most high-profile work, which was done by the peace subcommittee, has been recognized. I’m referring to the billboard campaign that teaches about the outcomes of choices our young people make when they avoid the gang lifestyle as opposed to getting caught up in it. My favorite is the college ID card juxtaposed alongside the toe tag – choose your identity, indeed. Kudos to the students at Heald College for coming up with the campaign concept and to the peace subcommittee for its cooperation with the students and for their fortitude in getting the campaign funded and produced.

The MARCOM committee also worked with staff on upgrading the city’s Web site to be much more user-friendly, technologically sound and easier to maintain. The committee agreed unanimously that as a communications outreach tool, the Web site was critical and in dire need of being upgraded quickly. The city’s Web master did a fantastic job, not only with the Web site design and programming, but also in the way she was able to address the concerns of a large committee as well as city staff and the various departments the Web site would touch. I’m impressed with how she designed a Web site for a city whose very image was and still is in flux (more about that below). If you haven’t seen the new city of Salinas Web site, please visit www.ci.salinas.ca.us. There’s more to be done as time and budget allow, so if you visit the site and think something is missing, your feedback would surely be welcomed – let your council member or the Web master know.

Many have said Salinas has an image problem, and I agree. I also think it will be impossible to get consensus on how to resolve that problem or whether it’s worth investing in solving. What detractors of investing in solving the image problem may not appreciate is the degree to which peace and prosperity rely on a positive, well-defined and broadly communicated image – and I don’t mean just picking up trash and planting flowers, although both those activities certainly help. I’m speaking of “image” in the marketing sense, and I am suggesting that Salinas needs to operate more like a business that understands the value of its brand. The city of Salinas has allowed its image to be hijacked by organized crime, and it is long overdue that we reclaim that image as an important step toward prosperity and peace.

Cities larger, more complex and more crime-riddled than Salinas have overcome their image problems, and we can, too. A very simple first step is this: Accentuate the positive. There are many, many other, more strategic and complicated steps, and this is not a suggestion that we stick our heads in the sand and ignore our crime and other problem issues. It is a very basic principle of sales and marketing that we all do on a personal level as well – we put our best image forward to attract a significant other, when we go on a job interview, to sell a product or service, and in numerous other situations. Salinas needs to do it, too, and all of us need to participate – including the media.

Certainly our current economic climate will make progress on image issues all the more challenging, but I’ve seen first-hand the dedication, enthusiasm and tireless efforts put forth by so many for our community. I’d like to see the city administration and MARCOM committee work more closely with the Chamber of Commerce and SUBA towards a joint effort to re-brand Salinas and take back our image, so we can have prosperity and peace.

Our animal friends have been on my mind more than usual lately for a few reasons:

• A human friend loaned me the book, “Best Friends,” about the animal rescue organization being made famous on what’s fast becoming my favorite TV show, “Dog Town”
• With the increase in foreclosures, some people have been forced to give up their pets because they themselves are displaced and struggling to survive
• The economy has forced many people to cut back even on essentials, causing some to give up their beloved pets, and shelters and rescue organizations are taking in more and more abandoned pets
• My own dog, Jake, who we adopted from the Salinas Animal Shelter in 2004, is getting up there in years and I’m afraid I won’t get to spend the amount of time I want with his fuzzy, gentle, loving soul, and
• In his acceptance speech, president-elect Barack Obama told his daughters they would be getting a puppy to take to the White House. Lucky dog.

It’s the last item that compelled me most to write about pets. Obama’s shout-out to his daughters about the puppy put the significance of pets on the international stage. I wonder how many other families will be considering getting a puppy because Obama made mention of it. Also, because the Obamas won’t be under the same pressures and constraints most of us face in feeding our families and making sure our children receive the education, health care, emotional support and parenting necessary to thrive, the first family will have the luxury of choosing their puppy from a professional breeder, if that is their desire. I hope they’ll look first to their local animal shelter, rescue group or SPCA as they seek their new furry family member, and that they make the adoption public so others will be influenced to consider adopting a shelter pet rather than a pure breed.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no animosity to pure breeds, their breeders or their owners. But for the purpose of having a pet, rather than a show animal, working animal or breeding animal, I don’t see why a pure breed is necessary – especially with our shelters overflowing with beautiful pets.