While other kids my age are spending their summers by the pool, visiting universities, and preparing for their senior year of high school, I am here interning at Tribe. I have learned a lot about being in an office environment, and I can honestly say, there is no place I’d rather be.

I’ve always known I wanted to be an artist, but the question was, what kind of artist? In the last three or four years, my passion for photography has grown. In the last couple of years, I’ve found Graphic Design to be the most interesting thing in the world.

In the two and a half weeks I’ve spent here at Tribe, I’ve learned so much from account coordination to ad design. I’ve watched Lindsay edit ads and build websites and brochures for the team to review. I’ve watched presentations being put together and everyone attend meetings.

Yesterday, I had the honor of attending Coca-Cola Enterprise’s on-line yearbook launch. The yearbook gives CCE employees the ability to create a profile and sign their co-workers’ page. They can also acknowledge how much they appreciate them through the form of a shout out.

In the last couple of weeks, I watched and listened to the team plan for this event. Lindsay and Jennifer spent a lot of time putting together the website while Alexis communicated with CCE to make sure they were ready for the launch. When we arrived at CCE’s offices, I watched everything come together. CCE employees filed into the room, and our team began to hand out pennants to build excitement (tying back to the yearbook theme) and encourage them to sign-up for the on-line yearbook.

While Jennifer, Alexis, Lindsay, and Miles were enthusiastically informing everyone of the new on-line yearbook, I walked around the room and took pictures. I was able to get shots of CCE employees mingling, eating ice cream, playing trivia, getting their yearbook pictures taken, and even signing up for the on-line yearbook (thanks to the laptops CCE provided). The yearbook launch was a huge success.

I’ve enjoyed my time here, and unfortunately, only have a few days left. Working at Tribe has exposed me to a small office environment. I’ve learned a lot from being here. I appreciate the opportunity I was given and would do it again if I am given the chance.

This blog was written by Shayna Patel, an intern at Tribe who is about to enter her senior year of high school.

Last week one of my all time favorite things happened. The Stanley Cup was lifted and skated around the Wachovia Center by the Chicago Blackhawks. I can’t even describe the feeling I get watching each player take their turn hoisting and skating the cup, before passing it on to the next teammate, who has been patiently waiting his entire life for this moment. I get a little teary eyed watching it because I’m overcome with happiness. This is the culmination of everything I find great about the sport and you’re watching dreams come true. I also find it bittersweet because it means I have to go roughly 115 days without hockey.

As Jonathan Toews lifted the 34.5 lb trophy overhead I couldn’t help but ask myself what the equivalent victory would be for me. There is no large shiny object that I get to hoist overhead after I design a bitching logo or mind-numbing tri-fold brochure. It’s just business as usual, but I don’t necessarily think that makes what I do less fulfilling. I just have to find much smaller victories in my day-to-day job. Things like flawless press checks, only one round of client revisions, and coming up with taglines that the copywriter didn’t think of are my Stanley Cup.

Most careers just don’t have life-changing moments like they do in professional sports. I think for young people this is hard. We live in a can-do age but the reality is some people can’t do some things.

When I graduated five years ago, I thought I was going to change the world with design. But for the time being I’m okay with making just one poster, logo, website or brochure better. Hopefully it can have a trickle up effect.

Would lifting the cup be more exciting? Of course it would. But unless I can put on 125 pounds and really improve my wrist shot, I’ll find fulfillment in my small victories. I can’t wait for the players to skate on to the ice come October. I’ll be there ready to watch a new season unfold, as players’ dreams become realities.

Courtesy of CNET: Sony delivers floppy disk’s last rites

What makes a great company? Is it the leader or the employees performing the tasks set forth by the leader? I suppose there can’t be one without the other. A recent Fast Company article makes an interesting argument. http://tinyurl.com/ybv22gs They claim that we have a leadership obsession. Is this true? Are we making too much of leadership and not enough of the little guy?  True, a leader does steer the company’s vision, but where would the leader be without having followers to implement their vision?  How far would Napoleon have gotten without an army of followers?

The article says that our obsession with leadership is very problematic because we are telling everyone to be leaders and not followers. After all, who wants to be a follower? If we learned anything in 5^th grade flag football, not everyone can be quarterback. There has to be an entire team to implement a plan and reach a goal.

We all want to encourage our children to be great leaders and to change the world. We tell them every day to be your own person and not be a follower. The reality is there is value being a trusted follower. Not everyone can be a CEO. For example, the Administrative Assistant may be the most important person in a company. This person is often times the voice of the brand. They are the first person a client encounters when they call or stop by the office. They are the company’s first impression. Think how much damage can be done if the Admin is rude to a potential new client. The Admin may be performing what people consider to be menial tasks like making coffee and running errands but if the CEO did these things they wouldn’t have time to lead the company. The Admin makes the CEO’s job possible.

The bottom line is that everybody needs to praise the little guys as much as the great leaders. The leader wouldn’t be able to lead if they had no followers and the followers wouldn’t have anybody to follow if there wasn’t a leader. It is a constant give and take. If there is mutual respect in the office between the leader and the followers and everyone understands their role to play then it is much easier to reach a common goal.

Before your company starts a Facebook fan page, there are two rules you should know:

• Rule #1: Don’t alienate your fans
• Rule #2: Don’t forget rule number #1

Nestle forgot the first two rules. It’s unfortunate because Nestle has something that all brands in social media want: a brand that gets people excited. People love chocolate. They get excited about chocolate. They talk to their friends about chocolate. A company that makes hydraulic pumps can’t say the same thing. So what did Nestle do wrong?

Here’s a link to an article with the specifics (and one to Nestle’s Facebook Fan page for good measure), but here’s a short synopsis of what happened.

1. Greenpeace released a video accusing Nestle of destroying rainforests and endangered species.
2. People started lashing out at Nestle through the fan page, using altered logos of the Kit Kat logo that read “Killer.”
3. Nestle told Facebook fans to stop using altered versions of logos in their pictures, or else their comments would be deleted.
4. People weren’t thrilled about being told what to do.
5. Nestle tried to explain themselves, but the tone was more sarcastic than friendly.
6. The fan page has become an open forum for people trashing the company.

Basically, they forgot the first rule. And it went viral. The Fan page is now full of expletive-filled comments about the company. On a more positive note, they’re getting a lot more “fans,” but many of these new fans are just people who want to jump on the bandwagon of Nestle bashing.

Nestle was put in a tough spot, and found themselves hosting a site full of angry comments about the company. It seems they’ve taken themselves out of the conversation for now. We’ll see how things work out.

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Today is my  last day and I’m a little concerned with the state that I’m going to be leaving the studio in. There’s some grade A beef going on here, and I think that without me around to mediate, this place might just spiral out of control. It all started with the iPod dock, a serious source of interstudio strife, for which we can never seem to a find a song that everyone agrees on. Lindsay and Miles have started playing The Beatles pretty consistently, a band that Sarah loathes, and I believe the motivation for this band choice has shifted from pure enjoyment of the music to plain old fashioned spite. It seems to be working, Sarah has threatened to blow her brains out upon the next Beatles song that gets played and, to be honest, I kind of believe her.

The iPod situation is just the tip of the iceberg. Sarah told me that Miles has been quietly stealing money from her over the past six months. I knew Miles was thrifty, but damn. Lauren accidentally cut off Lindsay, usually not a very confrontational person, in traffic on the way to work a few days back. Lauren entered the parking deck at the end of her work day today to find all the air let out of her tires. Basically, we’re falling apart here and I’m really not sure what’s going to happen when I leave.

All joking aside, the past three summers have been nothing short of spectacular. I’ve learned so much from both participating in actual agency work and being able to observe and get advice from some of the most enlightened people in the industry. Thank you, Tribe, and thanks to anybody who has read this blog this summer.

After three years of interning here, I’ve compiled the Top 5 Challenges of Being a Tribe Intern as well as the Top 5 Best Parts about being an Tribe Intern. Please keep in mind these have been gleaned from three summers worth of experience, so some of them came from my first summer when my work load consisted of more menial tasks (which were the most challenging at times).

Top 5 Challenges of Being a Tribe Intern

1. Writing 10 blog posts.
2. Learning my way around Atlanta while running errands that are time sensitive.
3. Getting research study participants to send back their camcorders.  
4. Finding a solid role in the agency.
5. Learning to just call in with the flu if you’ve been abducted in a parking lot in south Alabama.

Top 5 Best Parts of Being a Tribe Intern

1. Working with great people
2. Getting to learn from some really talented people
3. Getting to work on substantial projects
4. Putting 3 summers of agency experience on my resume
5. Free lunches

Recently I’ve been doing some market research for Jen. My reasearch consists of me interviewing some of my friends who have just graduated about their plans for the immediate future and how the current economy is affecting their decisions. I’ve found that there are about half a dozen options that my peers are exploring that fall under two categories. Either they’re biting the bullet and starting at a lower level position than their suited for and, as a result, making less than they would in better job market, or they’re finding ways to put off getting a job until it gets better (whenever that may be).

Some of them are being constructive with their down time by extending their education through grad school or some other placement program, or participating in some other resumé builder like Teach For America. Some are just using the time to travel or live somewhere they’ve always wanted to. I have a number of friends who have moved out west to parts of Wyoming and Colorado to be fishing guides or ranch hands, their rationale being that this the only time they have before they start a career when they have the option to experience such an awesome lifestyle.

Those who have chosen to go straight into the job market seem to be pretty miserable. Partly because they’re starting so much lower than they had hoped, and partly because all of their friends have found what seem to be better alternatives. This is not to say that some aren’t starting off well. There are many young folks who get to go into family businesses or get hooked up with jobs by family members. For the rest of us, it’s good to know there are some decent alternatives out there as long as an improved job market is on the horizon.

If you ever come by to visit Tribe, you’ll probably notice the fantastic office moral, or maybe even the fluidity with which work moves through the office. However, I will guarantee that the very first thing to catch your eye is the gorgeous office space that we get to come to every day. If you have the time, I encourage you to go to the Tribe, Inc. website and take the virtual tour. I can safely say, without fail, every person who steps foot in this office for the first time comments on either our breathtaking view of the Chattahoochee National Preserve or the impressive feng shui influenced layout of the offices and studio. This is something that really attracts people in my generation. It’s simple, working somewhere that looks cool makes you feel cool, and feeling cool is something that Gen Y places importance on. Because of this, it is my opinion that it would behoove some employers out there to consider revamping their office space to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing.

Now, I realize some you reading this may think that I’m being ridiculous. Why should our employers be striving to please us? We should be jumping through hoops to please you, right? While that’s a valid point, one must realize what they are achieving in offering employees a good looking office environment. You are creating a place that an employee really wants to be associated with, a place that makes them want their friends to see where they work, a place that everyone in the office can be proud of and enjoy going to on a daily basis, and most importantly, a place that creates job value and ultimately boosts office moral. I know if I owned my own business these are things that I would want for my employees and my business, and I urge business owners out their to take a look around their office space and see if you might want to step it up. Who knows? You might attract the next titan of your industry.