The presentation focused on how to view paper and use if effectively. They argued, “paper is sustainable”. But isn’t that the opposite of what we’ve been told by tree-huggers around the world? Isn’t the internet a more efficient way of transferring information? Turns out, Domtar just might be right.

“Please Consider the Environment Before Printing this Email”

We’ve all sent or received an email with this request. However, the Paper Because campaign argues that sometimes printing an email is more efficient. It can be easily shared with co-workers, used outside the office or away from our computer, or (like me) used as a physical checklist when going through a client’s project edits or wish list. Of course, we should be conscious of which emails need to be printed, but a stack of paper on your desk is more difficult to ignore than a buried email.

Write It Down

In an article by Fast Company, they argue that physically writing something down (versus using your phone) is the best way to ensure you will remember it. “It’s a smoother path from your brain to the printed word, it saves you from task-switching overload, and it possibly makes the best to-do list.”

In the Corporate World

Senior executives still prefer printed resumes they can hold and evaluate. If you have 10-30 seconds to wow your potential boss, why do it in a blog post where you’re also discussing last weekend’s party. And as mentioned above, it has a better chance of being read if it’s sitting on their desk, rather than in an inbox.

Electronic Clutter

Today, devices like computers, smartphones, and tablets sometimes provide more distractions than aid. You need to focus in on one thing to memorize, review or thoroughly comprehend it. Enter paper. If I’m reviewing a document on my phone and a text comes in, you can bet I’m immediately going to read the text and abandon my work. With paper printouts, you can focus on what’s in front of you with zero distractions.

Need more convincing? Check out this hilarious video for a taste of Domtar’s Paper Because campaign. I can guarantee it will change your mind, or at least make you think too. 

-Kristi Haddad

To apply, please fill out the LoSasso Job Inquiry form; reference this job opening and blog post. We look forward to hearing from you!

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This PR & Integrated Marketing Intern is responsible for assisting the account teams with a variety of clients on PR and Marketing Initiatives. This position is designed as an introduction to agency life, and candidates should be available immediately. This internship pays $11/hr and is full time.

PR Involvement

You will support our PR team pulling coverage reports from electronic systems as well as scanning and clipping print and online publications that cover our client industries. You may also gain experience in distributing press releases and maintaining client PR calendars and tracking opportunities.

Writing and Blog Support

You will have the opportunity to participate in the agency blog and social media efforts. This will begin with maintaining an editorial schedule and securing contributions from agency staff. You will also be expected to curate content that can be reposted or shared via the agency social properties. If you are a writer, you will be encouraged to develop original articles and content to be evaluated for posting to our site.

Search and Social

You will learn to use Google analytics and pull traffic reports for multiple clients. You will also learn to pull keyword rankings and research to help track performance and evaluate opportunities.

Agency Systems and Processes

You will learn how an agency works and to use the tools that we rely on each day to run our business and serve our clients; these include our Webvantage Agency Software, Basecamp collaboration tool, WordPress blog software and other technologies.

General Account Team Support

We will make an effort to keep you busy, keep you learning and take advantage of your strengths.

Accounting Support

There may be some activities relating to billing and processing of accounting that would be trained and handled during this time.

Front Desk Responsibilities

This component of the assignment does not consume a majority of the time you will spend here, but it is the aspect of your position that most directly impacts the happiness of the other people who work here. A proactive awareness of the general office support, and an “I’ll handle it” approach is needed.

In addition to answering phones, distributing mail and organizing publications, the front desk is an important catch-all for many of the things that make the office an organized and pleasant place to work. We have a cleaning crew in twice each week, but there are some daily activities to help keep the office tidy – daily prep and tidying-up of conference rooms and common areas, running/emptying dishwasher at beginning and end of day, making coffee twice a day, watering plants and other general office management assistance. There will also be occasional client and staff meetings that will require support ranging from coordinating travel and catering to helping to prepare, host and clean-up.

This update is again moving towards making sure sites are of high-quality, so this update is attempting to only affect those which use spam-like techniques. Such techniques would be things like keyword stuffing, buying or selling links, excessive link exchanging, using automated programs or services to create links, using invisible text, or anything else deemed unethical black hat SEO.

It is still too early for any site to notice a difference in their rankings if they have been effected. If your site practices white hat SEO–all the ethical approaches to ranking properly in search engines–then you shouldn’t have to fear the Penguin.

- Michelle Murphy

The author writes that there are two important underlying principles to the production of ideas. The first principle is that a new idea is nothing more than a new combination of old elements. The second principle is that the capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships. Consciously or unconsciously, every idea we produce follows a certain technique that includes these principles. Thanks to these principles, we can cultivate a conscious idea-generating technique. According to Young, this technique follows a five-step process from which all ideas flow. It’s important to follow each step in sequence

1. The first step is gathering raw materials. In the advertising world, it is the agency’s job to know the client, its products and, most importantly, its customers. Yet most agency people stop too soon in the process of gathering information. If enough research exists, differences between products and consumers appear, leading to relationship individualities that may lead to an idea. In advertising, an idea results from a new combination of specific knowledge about products and people with a general knowledge about life and events. A practical step is to write information down and save it in a systematic way on your computer. Classify and organize information as you gather it. This helps prepare your mind for the idea-producing process.

2. The second step, after thorough raw material gathering, is to blend the information together—bringing facts together to see how they fit. Bits of ideas may begin to appear; this can be mentally exhausting, but press on and think of it as putting a puzzle together.

3. Now move on to the third stage. Drop the idea completely and turn it over to your unconscious mind: In other words, let it develop while you sleep. Also, do things that you enjoy that stimulate your mind and emotions. Listen to music; go to the movie or theater; read poetry; or get outside your normal routine.

4. If you’ve really done your work during the first three steps, then the fourth happens naturally. Perhaps you’ve experienced this: a “Eureka” or “I’ve got it” moment. You wake up with a great idea or you are taking a shower or driving to work and the idea appears with clarity. Write it down or commit it to memory.

5. The fifth stage is sharing your idea with your team. This is when reality hits. Your bright, shiny idea may lose some of its luster once others are made aware of it. However, the refining and tuning process that happens when you share your ideas with the team can offer enlightening perspective—and generate something better. It’s important not to hold your idea too tightly: allow it to go through a critical-thinking process. If it’s a good idea, you will see that it has self-expanding qualities, and with this, possibilities you did not think of may come to light.

This five-step process, as simple as it seems, will allow us to continue down the path of producing relevant and dramatic ideas for our clients.

-Mark Hollingsworth

For today’s marketers, mobile is the most incredible convergent innovation to date that is effecting the entire marketing ecosystem. It is a complex system that spans the way audiences engage in brands and the channels through which brands are sold. The customer journey, the levels of overall value that differentiates brands, the portfolios of products developed to capture customers; all are brought together by mobile marketing.

Mobile is the center of our customer’s lives and now brands can be at the centers of their experiences.  With this new convergence of technology, now consuming media is no longer a stationary activity – it moves when we move. Mobile technology transforms every time, place, and activity into an opportunity to engage with meaningful messages.

Mobile Frees Marketers from Constraints that have Impeded Innovation. Mobile presents an entirely new reality for marketers – one without constraints and restrictions. There is no longer the “time” constraint (Mobile provides “always-on” immediacy).

Mobile is an innovative medium—but marketers themselves will become the innovators in this revolution. With mobile technology, opportunities for innovation abound and marketers will be the ones taking advantage of these opportunities. Mobile simply presents the technology; marketers must use it.

Marketers must take this for the innovation moment that is – an opportunity to reimagine and reinvent their brands using mobile’s capabilities.

-Katie Stipanovich

In January, Adobe presented a report that shines a light on the way we marketers will be working according to the biggest projected trends throughout the rest of 2013 and beyond. Many of the trends were present in last year’s report, but they have increased in importance and usage among marketers (specifically content, conversion, mobile and social).

The chart above highlights the top priorities for marketers in 2013, as well as the comparable figures from 2012. The continuing emergence of content marketing is clear to see, along with a major jump in the proportion of respondents who point to this as a priority for 2013 (up from 29% to 39%). Another notable year-to-year increase is conversion rate optimization which has gone up from 34% to 39%.

Targeting and personalization (37%) was a new option added to this survey this year, and has turned out to be among the top priorities, stressing once again that personal engagement will continue to be important in continuing marketing trends.

- Katie Stipanovich