After speaking with a few of my friends and talking with classmates, it has come to my attention that a lot of people do not know how to properly spend their time on Twitter. For some it’s just a bunch of their friends posting about what they’re eating and doing throughout the day. Others just look to their feeds as a means to get in touch with what celebrities are posting. But it doesn’t have to be that boring! There are so many comedy writers or spoof feeds that put their hilarious thoughts in 140 characters or less. Twitter also provides a seemingly untapped source of information for almost every field of business. So just in case you needed some help in terms of getting started with your followers, take a look at my Top 10 Handles to Follow. This list is full of marketing gurus, cupcake vendors and sassy mermaids. Twitter shouldn’t just be about what your friends are eating and what Kim Kardashian is promoting.

(In no particular order)

1. @mashable – marketing guru and blogger that keeps you updated on everything business
2. @kellyoxford – writer and mom who says exactly what you were just thinking
3. @OscarPRgirl – ever wanted an inside look at fashion house PR? Here you go!
4. @hipstermermaid – mocking the hipster craze with a sharp tongue
5. @mintelnews – gives stats and business related facts that you never would have thought of
6. @mindykaling – writer, actress and shopper. Basically your best friend in twitter form
7. @brandchannelhub – information on branding and marketing for your product
8. @sprinkles – best cupcakes in Chicago and other locations with free passwords everyday
9. @DeepakChopra – for your spiritual side. He makes you feel better
10. @Jowyang – marketing guru with a lot of inside insights to the business.

And of course, most importantly you should follow us at @jbchimarketing for everything fun and marketing related!

In recent years, guerrilla marketing has taken a new form: Flash Mobs.  This unconventional strategy features groups of people coming together in public places to perform some sort of choreographed promotion. They have become a wildly popular and widely publicized way to draw attention to one’s brand. The premise is that normal people are going about their everyday business only to drop everything and join in on a large-scale, choreographed performance. The beauty about these things is that when they are performing, they act like what they are doing is completely normal, which draws the crowd in even more. However, this flash mob mentality has become even more popular in another arena: crime. In convenience stores across America, mobs of youths have been storming in and ransacking retailers in a way most authorities couldn’t possibly be prepared for. This has even taken place a few blocks down the street from our office at the McDonalds on Chicago Ave. With authorities now consistently monitoring the areas affected by these criminals, it brings to question if they will begin to crack down harder on those who still use the “mob” technique as a branding strategy as some of these performances, are not given permits by the local community. I for one, hope that this mob technique will be able to surpass the criminal activity that has been attached with this strategy so that we can all see more of these types of performances:

Trident Unwrapped

Sky TV

T-Mobile

I’ve had so much fun working for JB Chicago over the past couple of months. Unfortunately, this is my last day here. (Sad dot com slash cry myself to sleep!) But instead of telling you what this opportunity has meant to me, I decided to show you instead, with a video I created…

jb chicago gets real2 (Go ahead, open it. Hopefully, this semi-not-at-all autobiographic video about JB Chicago makes you smile.)

Thank you so much to Steve, Carly, Sara, Connor, Christina and Jonathan for letting me be a part of their crazy integrative marketing family, and for letting me write all sorts of “creative” (wacky) things on the blogs. And for answering all my obnoxious questions…and checking my seplling mitskaes (Did you get that, Carly?)…and for letting me capture your lives on video camera…anyway. This summer internship has meant the world to me.

Love,

Tolu the Intern

About a month ago, I wrote a blog about the best (or well…my favorite) fake company and brand names of all T.V. time. Though the list was compiled of what I thought to be the cream of the crop (I still can’t stop laughing every time I think of Ron Swanson’s “All of the Bacon and Eggs You Have” ice cream), I have to admit that I missed a lot of good logos for fake companies from quality T.V. and movies. Luckily, FAUXGO has my back. Created as a home for “a symbol or other small design created to represent a fictional company or organization that exists only on film,” (the very definition of a “fauxgo,” according to the site), it’s a blog that has some of the most well-known logos of silver-screen and regular screen history. You got to admire a blog that’s set up for the sole purpose of showing off fake marketing techniques.

Toy Story

Monsters Inc

If you have to ask, you will NEVER KNOW.

And these aren’t even the best and most colorful ones! These are just the ones that I recognized off the top of my head (as you can see, I love Pixar and “Mad Men”). See Fauxgo for more.

Guess who I got to meet today??? If you guessed “VV Brown,” you, my friend, are correct! She performed at Walton Isaacson, and yours truly got to see her. This has been a GOOD. DAY.

That is all.

It should come as a surprise to no one that superhero movie remakes have been the latest trend since the early 2000s. From the Batman kicking some Joker butt, to Iron Man saving the day with a multi-million dollar suit and a playboy attitude, it’s safe to assume that this genre is here to stay for a long time.

In light of the recent superhero movie “Captain America,” I can’t help but imagine what would happen if we at JB Chicago got superhero powers. Please enjoy the “JB Chicago Superhero Collection Cards.” (My apologizes if the cards seem like they’re not the same size and like they’ve been created on Microsoft Paint. That’s because all of the above is true.)

Strengths: Making awesome designs, knowing how to work all versions of Photoshop and Hootsuite, handling any shenanigans dealt from unruly interns.

Weaknesses: None.

Strengths: Designing cool websites, multi-tasking on a level that no human can ever fully comprehend, ability to work near/close to The Designinator.

Weaknesses: None.*

Strengths: Level Five Master on all things Hootsuite, ability to juggle multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts, ways of persuasion and people-managing by being charming.

Weaknesses: None.

Strengths: Ability to pick out a misspelled word, ways of super-organization and put-togetherness, being super-sweet in an awesome way.

Weaknesses: Do you see a pattern here?

As you can see, we’re a great integrative marketing firm because in the world of superhero trading cards, no one has any weaknesses. (Oh…and also because we’re just generally good at all things integrative marketing.)

*Can be a major Sniglet sometimes.

Okay, so I realize that I’ve talked about Google+ a lot in the past two weeks (read: Steve’s blog and “The Fizz” blog post from two weeks ago). But I seriously believe that Google+ has created a shift in social trends. Not quite the “Down with Facebook” anarchy that a few are talking about, but more of a “Huh, this is handier” movement. So here are three things that I’ve noticed have changed. Because though I’m not an expert, I like to think that I call it like I see it…

It was:

Facebook “likes.“ You can like everything you want till the cows come home, but there’s nowhere for friends to neatly see all of your likes in one place.

Now it’s:

Google+ “+1”. First of all, it works whenever you’re ever on Google anything, so you can “+1” to your little heart’s content when you have the time. Second, there’s a tab on your Google+ account that, if you want, can show your friends what you’ve been “+1ing.”

It was:

Mass texts. Cute, but not so much when you have to constantly retype people’s names for different mass text events.

Now it’s:

Google+’s “huddle.” It lets you mass text people from your Google+ account via your phone easily, since you can create a circle that’s saved forever. The only downfall is that the friends have to be on Google+ and you have to own an Android, but the way things are going, it looks like that’s going to be less and less of a problem in the near future.

It was:

Skype. A blessing (“Hey, Nikki! How’s it going!”) and a curse (“So…I want to actually see Nikki and Brigette and Greg all at once…but I can’t?”)

Now it’s:

Google+’s “hangouts.” Again, the concept of creating video chatting isn’t new; it’s the fact that you can easily do it with multiple people and you can save the hangout for next time. Got three friends who are studying abroad in different countries, and you want to talk to them once a week, all at the same time? Don’t worry: Google+ has got your back.

So now I can focus less on how I'm going to video chat with all of them at the same time, and more on crying because I'm stuck in America.

It’s hot today. Not like, “Oh, man, it’s kind of sunny, so let’s get some ice cream” hot. But “Oh my gosh my retinas are burning, I feel like I’m trapping in a sauna… is your flesh melting off?” hot. Right now, it’s 86 degrees in Chicago, and it’s going to get up to 91. And if you think that’s bad, just wait ‘till tomorrow: it’s going to be 98.

Welcome to Chi-Town summer, folks.

In honor of this heat wave, I’ve complied some of the truest tweets relating with this ridiculous temperature increase. Whatever happened to 75, breezy and beautiful?

“Chicago weather is about to get crazy…can’t wait for this crippling #heatwave” – @nmochicago

“It is borderline impossible to breathe outside today. #toohot” – @gallifreyan37

“Dear #Chicagoweather, I am not an egg. Therefore, I don’t need to be incubated. Sincerely, sweating-like-bacon-on-a-pan.” – @dane_wafa

“10 Ways to Keep Cool Without Air Conditioning http://t.co/JbcVlMR #heatwave #oldschool” -@jennsta (I’m thinking of planting 95 trees up in here.)

“i am not moving from the pool for the rest of the week. #waytoohot #crispy” – @ayylexiii

“RT @UChicagoPress In 1995, Chicago’s #HeatWave saw more deaths than the Great Fire. http://bit.ly/oYkchx” – @UChicagoMag (aka: Good God, that doesn’t sound comforting at all…)

“When will there be workday chic bikinis? #toohot” - @madback

“Lol just saw a sign that said ‘remember when we had 20+ inches of snow? And freezing temps? Enjoy the heat.’ #Chicagoweather” – @megswegs11

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go wrap myself up in my hoodie. AC levels in this office today are just #sodarnhigh…