Notes from 9/18 OCA Meeting

JOB NEWS!
The markets are saying the economy is picking up. If the recent job news within OCA is any indication, it's true. Several people have contacted me over the past 2 weeks with great news.
- Annemarie Beliard just accepted a 6-month contract job in Product Marketing for Adobe.
- Ed Ferguson started a new Product Marketing job last week with TCS (TeleCommunication Systems) in Seattle.
- Mark Jovan has taken a contract writing job with KING-5 news.
- Kristin Mackay starts a new Management Supervisor job this week with Wunderman's Team Microsoft.

At last week's meeting...
We Welcomed Several New OCA Members:
- Terry Coe, most recently with Encore Media Group as General Manager and publisher for City Arts Magazine.
- Laurie Krisman, new to Seattle from Denver, was most recently with Xcel Energy as a Communications Consultant.
- Kristina Muller-Eberhard, Creative Director most recently with Publicis.
- Paul Verner, product marketing expert with experience running brand groups and AT&T Mobility.

Zooppa Reps Arik Abel and Kirk Mastin Were On Hand To Introduce Their Company and to discuss the challenges of running and growing a community for user-generated advertising.
First things first... they are NOT a restaurant. Rather they are a robust, relatively new company which was originally formed in Italy, but is now headquartered here in Seattle. Their community is comprised of 44,000+ members worldwide, with more than 15,000 of those in the U.S.

Zooppa helps clients (for example... Mini Cooper, Jones Soda, Brooks Running) who are looking to add to their marketing campaign arsenals. These client companies, who have a new product or service to promote, work with Zooppa to set up contests in which community members can contribute original user-generated advertising content. A brief is written, and members then create video, print or web ads to further promote the brand's new offering.

Criticism among the creative community is that the model promotes spec work and downgrades the work from the pro's. But Zooppa contends that they are not looking to take the place of ad agencies. In fact, they are looking more closely at how to partner with agencies, so that clients can benefit from additional concepts.

Perusing the site, it is easy to find examples of concepts I wouldn't take to a client. But with the shear amount of the masses contributing, there are also lots of samples of great work.
For the best info on the company and how it all works, visit their blog.