Copywriting

For years I had no idea how difficult copywriting actually is.

No longer.

I am sitting in a little cafe in the beaches. Each table is occupied by others with open laptops. It is clear that this is a popular 'office' space in this neighbourhood. Good coffee, non-offensive muzak in the background. I should be inspired.

Why am I not inspired? Where did this writers block come from?

I am in the midst of writing copy for my summer independent study. Who knew that populating a website with important information and product features would be so difficult!

I must get this done! I have only an hour left on my battery and power outlets appear to be at a premium in this location!

Sitting by the phone sucks!

As you know, I had been interviewed for a corporate strategy position with a company that I would love to work for. I was pretty sure that they said they would call regardless, however after waiting patiently by the telephone for 2 days, I emailed my friend who was also a finalist to see whether she had heard. She had. Alas, I was not the successful candidate, but I am very happy for my friend as I'm certain she'll do a fantastic job.

As for me, I'll continue with the independent study and networking. Surely hope remains.

Independent Study - Just like the real world!

After months of "safe" school work, I'm thrilled to be working on a meaningful project again. As I mentioned earlier, as part of an independent study project, a few of my colleagues and I are acting as consultants to a foreign company looking to enter North America. All of the products, 5 in total, are innovative technology products in a variety of sectors. My client (to remain anonymous until the product has launched) is in renewable energy.

This project is quite timely as I have been overly preoccupied with the BP disaster, thus I have developed a personal interest in renewable energy. I now know more about the generation of electricity than ever before. Considering how little of our power is generated using sustainable sources, I'm amazed at the clutter in the marketplace - there are a heck of a lot of players manufacturing, designing & installing energy components and integrated systems.

You'll be happy to know that I've officially culled my list of important players from over 300 to just over 200. What a day!

Independent Study - Hectic, Involve, Interesting, Overwhelming!

I am now on my third week of the independent study - launching a new technology into the North American Market. As it is a real client, I am not permitted to give you specifics on the company name and/or industry, however, I can share some of the activities that I have been involved in over the past 3 weeks:

This phase has been all about the research - specifically analyzing the competitive landsape, developing a list of competitors, buyers etc. Performing an analysis of the product and compare to competitors, developing a list of relevant trade shows, conferences and associations, etc.

Unlike the others participating in this project, I am a lone wolf - AKA, as I was in India, I didn't have the opportunity to see whether any of my other classmates were interested in the project, thus signed up solo. While the project has been extremely interesting, it has also been a heck of a lot of work!

I have been quite thorough in my research and have developed a list of over 300 players in this market. As the next phase is positioning and developing marketing messages and finally launching a website & conducting SEO initiatives, I am now reviewing each and every website.

I wish I could share more info on the project as it is REALLY interesting, but alas, I cannot. Rest assured though, this phase should be the most time intensive - research report is due on Monday!! Eeek!

Interviewing as an (almost) MBA

After much anticipation, I finally had an interview for a position that I have been secretly salivating over.

Here's an excerpt of the job posting:

"Your efforts will be directly tied into the development of new business models and strategies and drive the evaluation of the top new business options"

This morning I had an initial discussion with the Executive Director with whom I would be working. Without jinxing myself, I have to say that I enjoyed this discussion immensely.

Being the nerd that I am, I spent the afternoon looking into the industry and doing a bit of high level thinking on the business projects that we discussed this morning. I also plan to visit a couple of retail locations that carry the product over the next few days to people watch - see how they interact with the product in situ. People watching is one of my favourite passtimes after all.

For the first time, I am really excited about the possibilities for the summer. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me dear friends - the face-to-face interview is next week! I guess I'd better make some time to review the interview skills documents that were developed by the Corporate Connections Centre.

Interest in Design Thinking on the Rise

Search data is an extremely useful competitive research tool as it shows what people are interested in right now.

Just for fun, I ran 'design thinking' through Google Insights For Search - a free tool that measures the popularity of search words. Great news friends, Design Thinking is increasing in popularity:

Interestingly enough, it's people in the UK and US who are driving these search results. Canada doesn't even register, despite the leadership of the Rotman School!

As for Integrated Thinking? Sorry friends, it has a long way to go - since 2004 there hasn't been enough search volume to even register a blip.

Awards

You will quickly notice that the school does a good job keeping you up to date on recent wins by Rotman students and faculty. Students get copied on press releases.

Today I'm cleaning out my Rotman inbox and thought I'd share some of the awards that have been won by Rotman in the past few months:

Avi Raj, David Shalaby, Castor Hui, Roderick Cheung and Mathew Thomas (MBA) - runners up in International Design Competition www.betterplace.com/handsfreechallenge.

Wenfei Yu (Rotman MBA) & Vincent Cheung (Comp Sci PHD) win first prize in IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition

Barbara Tassa and Danny Wang (Both Rotman MBA) win third place in IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition www.iveybpc.com.

Constance Lo, Michael Odam, Mark Kearney and Marc Hyman (Evening MBA) win first place in Cerebration 2010 Business Plan Competition www.nus.edu.sg/cerebration

David Soberman (Rotman Professor) wins 'Best Marketing Case' at 2010 ecch European Case Awards

Gary Latham, Secretary of State Professor of Organizational Effectiveness and Professor of Organizational Behaviour, received the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award for 2009/2010 from the Association for Psychological Science.

Congrats to all.

MBA Electives

Tomorrow is the day where the results of our first round of electives bidding. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me - I bid for 9 classes, the maximum I was allowed due to having taken a study tour.

As a quick refresher, each student is given 1000 points to bid toward elective classes. Depending on the number of students who wish to take a particular course, you may be required to bid as high as 500+ points for a single class. Some of the more niche topics require no points. It is a slightly confusing system, but it seems fair - each student must prioratize and bid strategically. I created a really long spreadsheet with every combination of classes that I found interesting and bid accordingly.

I REALLY hope that I bid correctly!

Presentation Success!

Well dears, apparently I panicked for nothing. The presentation was great - I even got voted as having the 'best slide' of the night. The key is pictures, not bullet points. Plus, as I am able to speak fast (yet clearly), I was able to get through the deck in a record 5 minutes!

I will let you in on a little secret - I snuck in an extra slide! So glad no one was counting.

Presentations - In Brief

I am currently working on a status update presentation for my independent study project. We've been asked to present in no more than 6 sides, and 6 minutes what we've done in the past week. This is proving to be extremely challenging as I have a lot to say - as usual!

*sigh* I guess I can keep some of these slides for the final presentation.