It’s been another 365 days and we’ve made it around the sun once more. For myself, 2014 was an interesting, fast-paced, and opportunistic year.

I started 2014 in a bit of a slump. I returned from vacationing in California with my best friend to the horrid polar vortex, and was about to start the last semester of my post-grad diploma in marketing. My course load felt light, so I decided to seek out an internship or thought about creating a position and pitching myself to an organization. As I was getting ready to pitch myself to an organization, eSports Canada, another opportunity came along. MMA re-tweeted that Team Acer was looking for writers, so I applied with my portfolio and ended up being 8/50 selected that got the gig. One of the first articles I wrote was BlinG Ring and my most favourite piece so far has been the Rapid Fire Interviews back at IEM Toronto.

2014 also proved to be a daring year of reaching new heights – literally. My best friend is an aerialist, who danced her whole life, and transitioned to circus + aerial silks five years ago. She took me on in January and trained me until November, when she left for a 5-month performing contract on a cruise in Brazil! I am so proud of her! With her help, I have come quite far in my training and have enjoyed every minute of it - I am still doing it in present day. For the school, I even created Twitter and Instagram accounts to help increase their online presence for the promotion of the school's year end performance.

I graduated in April 2014 from my marketing diploma and employment found me 9 days after graduation. I was in the middle of interviewing for a marketing and design position with another employer, when my current boss found me on Twitter. When used properly, Twitter can be a powerful tool (I've obtained three jobs through Twitter). I currently work in real estate, and undertake a series of roles from marketing, designing, internal and external communications, social media, photography, being a whole IT department for silly mac users (lol), and more. My all-encompassing role is exciting at times, but can also be stressful. However, I take each day as it comes and try my best to make each day count.

I also currently work as a Communications Officer for Spectrum, which is an initiative at the University I attended; to encourage entrepreneurship with currently enrolled students. This role has been interesting and has further opened my eyes to entrepreneurship. We even had Dragon Den’s Bruce Croxon and Kevin Cochran as keynote speakers for our event “Marauders Den”, which was pretty cool. Also, my team members, Cass and Justin, are pretty awesome people to work with.

In the summer, I began a design diploma, took on sports photography with an agency, as well as freelance roles in consulting, photography, social media, digital design and writing. I spent the summer playing women’s league soccer, hiking, hanging with friends, visiting beaches, playing video games, volunteering, attending concerts (Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Spoon, The Black Keys/Cage the Elephant, and LIGHTS), seeing family and finding inspiration to fuel my creativity. I took on personal photography and video projects, scrapbooked, made jewellery, hair bows, bowties, pocket squares, painted and more.

In August, I attended Intel Extreme Masters: Toronto as press for Team Acer. This was my second offline event – I previously attended NASL WCS S3 Finals in November 2013, and you can see me as a baneling here. The four-day event was a lot of fun – from the games, to creating content and meeting awesome people.

In November, I flew out to California for BlizzCon. I attended the WCS global finals on opening weekend with Skye and it was a lot of fun. Skye is also a writer for Team Acer, and is a very lovely, charming, and genuine person. She took me all over SoCal, from visiting beaches to shopping, and made my trip very enjoyable. BlizzCon was also an amazing experience, and I got to meet a lot of great people – including one of my WoW friends from ~2006. The venue was super cool for StarCraft II - it took place in an arena, and the stage itself was pretty wicked. You could feel the energy roaring through the audience over the two days, and I’m thankful to have been present at this event.

In the fall, I wandered the streets of Toronto, taking in "art" during Nuit Blanche, The Legend of Korra wrapped up </3, I threw axe’s at BATL, and went to TorCraft (a Toronto-based StarCraft event series held by ESChamp). Throughout the year, I made new friends, lost old friends and strengthened the bond with others. 2014 was a roller coaster of a year, and proved that hard work, determination and being stubborn (in a good way) will help you achieve goals and get you where you want to be. I look forward to 2015, and what this year will bring.

I leave you with some of my favourite videos I look to when I'm lacking inspiration, or need a reminder that I should be doing more awesome things. ^^

On Thursday March 20th, I had the opportunity to attend the fourth annual MARS Mix conference at McMaster University presented by the DeGroote Marketing Association. The conference is held annually, and draws in students and professionals from Marketing, Advertising, Retail and Sales to provide knowledge, share stories, and build connections while presenting a unique experience. The conference was "out of this world" and really played into the event theme “Defying Gravity”. From one enthusiastic speaker to the next, everyone brought unique ideas and shared how they defy gravity.

James Politeski, President of Sales and Marketing at Samsung Electronics Canada shared three important insights at the conference.

The first, the world is not digital but rather, mobile. Mobiles are, and will play a key role in marketing in the years to come, especially with technology such as near field communications.

Moreover, Politeski also shared the importance of creating unique experiences. Creating an experience is paramount for the success of a company as it makes them memorable and is a great way to connect with consumers. The Sport Chek flagship store in Edmonton Mall provides itself as a great example of creating unique experiences for consumers as it blends technology and retail together. See the video below.

Lastly, image matters. Everyday, we as individuals are marketing ourselves through how we dress, what we share on social media, how we present ourselves in-person, and more. It is apparent that we give value to people, companies, and products based off of “fit, feel, and finish”. Image is an aspect that should not be overlooked in any realm of marketing, advertising, retail, or sales, as it is a driver in pulling us in or pushing us away.

Bobby Sahni, partner and co-founder of Ethnicity Multicultural Marketing + Advertising provided the delegates of MARS Mix with an insightful presentation on the changing landscape of Canada and how to engage ethnicity. Sahni’s first key takeaway was multicultural marketing. With Canada fuelled by immigration, it is apparent that many individuals immigrate with cultural baggage. Rather than turn a blind eye, marketers should embrace this diversity and use it to their advantage. In three short words, “multicultural is mainstream”. Sahni believes that in a few years, the wording “multicultural marketing” will eventually morph into “marketing”, as the two will combine as one.

The second takeaway from Sahni was the importance of analyzing the business environment. A statistic provided stated, “Over the next 10 years, approximately 70% of all growth in Canadian consumer spending will come from Chinese and South Asian consumers”. It is apparent that multicultural marketing is experiencing growth with immigration, and catering to all audiences will help companies stay ahead of their competition.

Furthermore, Sahni defies gravity through embracing change. Change is not something that should be considered an enemy; rather change should be embraced as a teacher, and a driver of success.

Lastly, Sahni informed us about an upcoming film “Dr. Cabbie”, which touches upon aspects of his presentation, diversity, and immigration. You can learn more about the film on Twitter, IMDB, and Facebook.

The MARS Mix conference also presented its delegates with a diverse panel of individuals for the topic of "Marketing in 2020". The panel included Bobby Sahni, Josh Singer – President of Kognitive Marketing, Meghan Merkler-Martin – Marketing Manager at PepsiCo, and Sinthu Jeyarajah – Account Manager at Noise Digital. When asked which qualities the panel looks for in future hires, a wide range of answers were given. Collectively, the panel felt that the following aspects are important:

Personality
Understanding and interacting with people
Understanding numbers (analytics, basic financial equations, balance sheets, etc.)
Possessing problem solving skills
Having PASSION – as an individual and for industry learning
Possessing courage
Having creativity and being able to think “outside the box”
Having the ability to “wear different hats” by showing that they are adaptable to a variety of situations
Possessing great communication skills
Being able to work as a team
Keeping up to date on data trends
Able to think on their feet
Having the willingness to take calculated chances

Lastly, when preparing for the next big idea, the panel felt it is important that individuals give attention to themselves, to social media platforms, and have the willingness to adapt.

The event continued with its third speaker, Matt Schnarr, founder and managing partner at AWAKE Chocolate. In this delicious presentation, Matt shared the importance of good business starting with the right people. Once you have paired good partners with complimentary experiences, the possibilities are endless.

In addition, Schnarr also stated the importance of finding a point of difference and promoting the benefits. Rather than launching an energy drink in an already saturated market, Schnarr and his partners thought outside the box in creating AWAKE. The name choice is clever, and clearly states what the product is intended to do – keep you awake! Schnarr and his partners perfected the recipe, and created the perfect new product, launching it to the Canadian market in 2012. AWAKE has had a successful venture to present day, and you can watch them as they continue to grow by following Nevil as he takes you along the AWAKE journey. To me, AWAKE is fuelled by caffeine and powered by creativity.

In his closing remarks, Schnarr stated that in regards to innovation and creating new products, we should not worry because not every good idea has been taken. So get creative! Also, be sure to check out Schnarr’s acting debut in the AWAKE commercial below.

The last speaker of the night, Keith Barry, director of strategy and development at Red Urban schooled us in rules to advertising. Barry opened his presentation with the following quote by Mary Kay:

“Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.”

Setting the mood, Barry invited us to see that while many great ideas exist (in our heads, or in that moleskine on your bedside table), they may never take off unless the right individual with passion and drive puts them into action. Moreover, Barry stated that one should “root everything in real human insight”. Paying homage to Simon Sinek’s “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”, it is apparent that in order to be a successful brand, you must own the brand. In this regard, as stated by Sinek, “The goal is not to do business with everyone who needs what you have, but rather to do business with people who believe what you believe.”

Furthermore, to show us the variety of creative aspects from a dedicated team, Barry shared a small sample of work by Red Urban. Videos shown were: The Volkswagen Art Heist, Super Sexy CPR, and Alexander Keith’s Hop Series. Barry also invited us to check out this cute short documentary about a 1955 VW Beetle that drove around the world three times, and is still operational and on the road in present day! Blue punch buggy, no punch back.

Lastly, Barry left us with some parting advice:

"The good jobs are never posted. You'll have to network to find them."
In regards to asking for help, "Make it easy for people to help you [by providing direction]."
“It is never about what an employer can do for you, it is about what you can do for an employer.”
“You have the internet. There is no excuse.” – use this technology to your advantage by learning, connecting, and sharing.

Thank you DMA for hosting an amazing event and inviting awesome individuals who defy gravity everyday. A huge congratulation goes out to the dedicated DMA team as well – you delivered this conference with professionalism and expertise, and it was definitely felt throughout the night. For pictures and student insights of the event, check out the event hashtags: DefyingGravity2014 and MARSMix2014.

navneetr