When I grow up...

I found my dream job. As a kid I dreamed of being a veterinarian. Then the reality of chemistry kicked in and I lost that dream. Today I rediscovered that sky's-the-limit, starry-eyed desire again.

Pamela Divinsky, VP at Ethos JWT, (yes, part of the HUGE advertising firm JWT) provided an outstanding lesson on tapping into social responsibility to increase profits of corporations. The part that I'll take away (aside from my child-like admiration of the job she has) is that companies can no longer sit aside without taking on a socially responsible campaign, and when they do one, they must do it well. Otherwise they'll get called out. Or discredited.

Divinsky came in as an unassuming, almost mousy person at the conference. She muttered under her breath that she was surprised anyone was staying, that she'd be happy to skip her talk if we wanted her to (it's snowing buckets in Boston and everyone was taking off early trying to get out), and professed several times she wasn't very experienced with public speaking.

Then she got up on stage and POW, BANG, BOOM. Talk about an awesome presentation, an outstanding delivery and inspiration. I'm so enamored with what I heard, and the possibilities this branch of work holds for my future that I don't know what to do with myself.

This video is just one of the examples that she used in her presentation yesterday, a spot they created for a local (she's in Toronto) hospital. Check this out...




Um.... wow?! Interesting trivia on this spot... they shot that in 48 hours, and everyone except for the kids listening to the lecture were real patients, families doctors and staff at that hospital.

Sidebar for my CHD awareness friends still following along on the month-long blog-a-thon, 6 days left, hooray! Also, can you imagine what we can do if we can get our message as part of a corporations national campaign? Screw the PSAs, let's dig in to our employers (or our husbands or whoever) and get them onto our campaign. Kids causes are the #1 "seller" cause, so we should be a shoe in.