So Foursquare DOES have a purpose...

So recently, I was at the PRSA Student Day in downtown Cleveland and an audience member during the keynote speech curiously asked, "So what is Foursquare? Does anyone use it?" I found myself asking the same question until I stumbled upon a couple different articles about the use of Foursquare in holiday campaigns and charity efforts.

Gap recently launched its newest holiday campaign with a Foursquare feature; online ads for the campaign include a Foursquare Gap "To Do" list. A list of Gap stores nearby the user appear on ones computer or mobile phone, and checking into these local stores earns shoppers 30% off any purchase. As another part of the campaign, Gap will donate $1 for every check-in their stores receive. This relationship with Foursquare isn't new; about a year ago, Gap offered 25% to all users who checked in to their stores.

After reading about this, I started doing a little bit more research on Foursquare because, I'll be honest...I thought this application was one of the creepiest. We're always being lectured on keeping our whereabouts private when it comes to using social media because it has been known that robberies occur when people broadcast their vacations or work trips through Facebook and Twitter. But this application can be used for good things too!

One of the coolest Foursquare campaigns was that of US hunger relief charity Feeding America. The week before Thanksgiving, Foursquare users could check into local food banks in order to have $1 donated for every check-in. Thoughtful, isn't it? It's an easy way to get people involved with little effort...which appeals to all of us that lead busy lives but still want to find a way to do good.

Although I was a bit weary of the overwhelming effects of social media on our lives, I have to admit, the more I research the good that has come out of tools like Facebook, Twitter and even Foursquare...I realize that the possibilities to help others are becoming even more endless. Foursquare isn't just a game we played at recess, it's a way to help those that need it (and maybe get a discount while we're at it)!

Success! Aussie gets invite to Thanksgiving by strangers

I recently read an awesome story on Mashable (for those of you that don't read articles from this site or follow him on Twitter-do it now!) about an Australian man who was accidentally receiving emails from a family in America, the Trans. For over three years, James West was included in the preparation for Tran family Thanksgivings. This past holiday, he finally responded. Sure, it's a tiiiiny bit creepy, but how cool is this?? He posted five YouTube videos in hopes of tracking down the Trans...pleading to be included in their Thanksgiving celebrations. After he discovered who they were and where they were located, West was welcomed with open arms into the household for Thanksgiving dinner.

Some may see this as creepy, but I think it's a sign that genuinely nice people are still out there...the Trans could have shut their doors on poor Mr. West but instead, they opened their home to him on one of the most popular holidays of the year. Think what you want, but I'd invite this guy to my Thanksgiving! What a cool story.

stopping concussions at the grassroots: why it's too late for some

As I park it on my huge leather couch and watch football for the rest of this wonderful Thanksgiving day, I can't help but think of a story I saw run on CNN the other night. Max Conradt was a 17 year-old quarterback with a bright future when he was rocked by two extremely dangerous helmet-to-helmet hits. Playing on a Friday night after suffering a handful of concussions over the course of two weeks is something that is almost unheard of these days...but it was something that almost killed Conradt. Today, Conradt is 25 years old, living in a home for adults who suffer from brain damage. He has the capacity of a 9 year-old. He'll never remember the glory days before his injury and we'll never know what kind of athlete he would have turned out to be.

Although much of the legislation from the supreme court of football is being handed down at the professional level, helmet-to-helmet hits should really be stopped at the grassroots: high-school and college football. While concussions are a widely publicized injury, most schools don't govern how they are treated...and even worse, most coaches can't even identify when a player has a concussion. As a college athlete, I am beginning to see concussions treated with more and more care...fellow athletes are being forced to sit out weeks, even entire seasons, because of head injuries. This is the change that needs to happen, but it doesn't seem to be happening fast enough.

Don't get me wrong, I was raised by a father who continuously told me to "walk it off" or "rub some dirt on it!", but let's face it...concussions aren't something to be fooled with. When teens are dying after playing with multiple concussions, something has to be done. Let's hope that the consequences for dangerous hits at the professional level trickles down to those at the grassroots.

For more on the touching story of Max Conradt, watch the video below:

hollywood's undercover renaissance man

My first impression of Scott Caan wasn't the best: he was playing the snot-nosed agent, Scott Lavin on HBO's hit show "Entourage". His character was meant to rub viewers the wrong way as he snuck around behind the back of always-loveable E, the agent of star Vinnie Chase. When I saw that Caan would be one of two stars of the show from the 1960s, "Hawaii Five-Oh", I cringed a little. Why? Caan is good-looking, smooth-talking and suave, but I just couldn't bring myself to like any characters he played. This all changed when I caught his appearance on Jay Leno a few nights ago. He was charismatic and funny, yet tough: three qualities I adore in a man.

So I started doing a little research on my new crush; creeping, if you will. He is all over the place! I'm not kidding, this guy does it all; he's an actor, direct & writer, and a photographer. Yep, a photographer. His most recent screenplay is Mercy, a drama about an author struggling to find what's missing in his life as he falls in love with his biggest critic. Caan stars in the film alongside his father and wonderful filmstar, James Caan. As I previewed the trailer for the film, I was entranced...it is heartfelt love story with a strong script that involves friendship, family and most of all, love. Okay, so Caan gets an A in acting and writing.

I moved on to his photography next...WOW. His pictures are raw and emotional, not something you'd expect from the son of an acclaimed actor that grew up in Hollywood. He captures the moments of normal people and the struggles of the the not-so normal ones. Caan released a book of his photos called "Scott Caan Photographs: Vol. I" that is available on his website. Click here to view the site. Finally, I'll leave you with some of my favorites from his online photo collection so you can see for yourself just how talented this undercover renaissance man is.

all i want for christmas...is a fashion blog?

this holiday season, COACH is doing things a little differently...
Fashion bloggers from all over were invited by the luxury handbag design company to write about their favorites of this holiday line offered. Online shoppers are greeted by each of the bloggers (and even one male model) as soon as they enter Coach's website. Click here to talk holidays with some of the featured bloggers.



I'm in LOVE with this campaign...it offers a personal peek into the minds of some of the smartest writers in the fashion industry. My experience with fashion only goes as far watching Heidi Klum and Tyra host their runway shows, so glimpsing in to the holiday traditions of these bloggers lowered my defenses; I allowed them to speak to me and eventually, I found myself wanting to run out and buy a Coach wristlet. By connecting with their publics through fashion bloggers, Coach has taken holiday advertising to a different (and neat!) level. This witty holiday campaign is an A+ from me...so go out and have a Coach holiday. :)

Does e-Learning get an F?

In one of my classes this week, we were discussing a new movement that some colleges are turning to in order to replace selling textbooks in their bookstores: e-Readers. Of course this conversation turned into one concerning learning and tutoring online and there were some very strong opinions on this matter.
This past summer, I took what is called a "hybrid course" in macroeconomics at a local community college. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it was going to be...the online homework didn't coincide with class lectures, and tests were confusing and didn't allow me to show any of my work on the problems I was attempting to answer. I'll be straight with you-economics is already like a foreign language to me. For me it's as simple as saving more than you spend...that's it. But of course we discussed graphs, supply & demand patterns, and federal spending. OVERLOAD. By the end of week 2 I wanted to toss my textbook out the window. Until I remembered that I was using my thousand-dollar laptop as a textbook. Oops.
Alright, so I have a confession to make at this point in my babbling-both of my parents are high school teachers. You may ask yourself, "Okay....so what does this have to do with the e-learning that she's bs-ing about right now?" Well, what do you think will happen if internet learning communities take off? Will teachers keep their jobs? No way! Traditional classrooms will cease to exist as we know them and face-to-face time between teachers and students will almost be non-existent.
Personally, I can't learn in this fashion. I go to school to be taught, not to teach myself. Teachers value their positions and have a passion for informing students. Without the classroom involvement, students may not be inspired to develop their own opinions on important matters they'll face in the future. School isn't just about learning the material, it's about learning who you are. I would not be the person I am today if it wasn't for the discoveries I made about myself in high school and college.
Sure, sometimes e-Learning can be a good thing: working moms, single parents, or people who simply just can't afford to attend a traditional college. But learning online just isn't for me and I hope and pray that I'm out of school by the time this new-age way of learning takes over.

What?! This can't be real.

Alright, so I'll be 100% honest: ESPN is the homepage on my MacBook. So, of course, I get a pretty regular update on news in the sports world. Some may say this makes me half-man, but I can deal with it. Some of the most valuable public relations case studies come from sports, the most recent and well-known being...you guessed it: LeBron James.

As a lifelong Cleveland fan, I've dreamed of the day when the wrongly dubbed "mistake on the lake" brought home and championship...in anything really. I know thousands have people have said this but having LeBum in town gave us some serious hope. His public divorce from Cleveland led to burnt jerseys, a great beer and a brand new sign on the Sherwin-Williams building. Most of all though, the nation saw the true colors of a great athlete caught up in the whirlwind of his own fame.

Okay, back to what I was originally trying to get at...sports updates on ESPN.com. Phew, took me a while-sorry. Anyways, I was getting online and saw a headline on the home page about LeBron being a finalist on the Time list for Person of the Year. WHAT?! PERSON OF THE YEAR!? I literally shook my head and closed my eyes, hoping that the discovery was a heinous joke. But lo and behold, upon refreshing the web-page multiple times (and by multiple I mean about 15) I was terrified to realize that it was, in fact, real.
WHY. Why would LBJ be on that list?! Just to give you an idea of some of the other finalists, I'll list a few.

Sarah Palin: Sure, not everyone likes the lady that can see Russia from her porch but hey, she did big things. A VP nod from the GOP and rumors about running for President in the future are no small accomplishments. She has a family and ran a state...I think that's pretty impressive.


Hamid Karzai: The Afghan president has formed anti-Taliban coalition in the country where the terrorist group has the most support. His recent conversion to the Christian faith had people talking all over the world, and the president faces immense challenges in the future.


The Chilean miners: The 33 brave men who somehow survived 10 weeks trapped in a collapsed mine are the highlight of the list of finalists. They showed extreme humanity and friendship throughout their 152 day ordeal, becoming sensational heroes all across the globe.



Now let's compare what LeBron has done to these accomplishments. Or maybe it will be easier to compare what he didn't accomplish. He failed to bring a ring to Cleveland not once, but twice. Choking in game six against the Celtics was just a glimpse into the crystal ball that forecast the future of LeBron James in Northeast Ohio. Sure, he made big news this past summer, but he doesn't deserve this kind of honor. Let's be real, if LeBron wins this award for "Person of the Year" there's a good possibility that the Cuyahoga River will be aflame...not the first time that's happened, right?

"A Million Reasons to Believe"

Okay, so it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but let's be honest: we've all got Christmas on the brain. Admit it! It's hard to resist the holiday commercials and cheerful music blaring from the speakers of our local shopping malls. We are all victims of the Christmas spirit, and I couldn't be happier about it.
The holidays are always times of giving and joy, but sometimes it can be easy to forget that there are those who don't have the good fortune of being able to give to those they love the most. Macy's is trying to change that this year.
Macy's department store has always been a marketing powerhouse. From their ever-symbolic red star to the beloved Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the department store is always visible to the public eye. That's why it came to a surprise to me that one of their coolest campaigns was kind of left in the corners of their website to find.
As the first department store to introduce the in-store Santa, it doesn't come as a surprise that Macy's still continue to insist that Santa lives on. When a young girl named Virginia asked in a letter to the New York times is Santa was real, the editor responded by saying that good old St. Nick exists "as surely as beauty and joy exist". This strong belief is crucial to the Macy's campaign and they make it clear on their website; the "Yes Virginia" piece on the "Believe" campaign website is proof of that.
Okay so moving on to the actual campaign...I know, I've kind of beat around the bush and for that, I apologize. This holiday season, Macy's is encouraging consumers to write letters to Santa in order to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To participate in the Macy's "Million Reasons to Believe" campaign, individuals can download letter template on Macy's website or submit a letter online...it's that simple. It only takes one stamped letter dropped off at a local Macy's department store for the organization to donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Easy, right? The campaign is great because it appeals to people of all ages; children, parents, and those in-between still seeing light in the belief that jolly old Saint Nicholas still exists to make life better for everyone.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children suffering from life-threatening medical conditions in hopes of improving the quality of life for them and their families. The Foundation grants a wish every 40 minutes and has granted almost 200,000 wishes since their start in 1980.
For more information concerning the Macy's Believe program, visit http://social.macys.com/believe2010/#/make-a-wish.
Help Macy's grant a wish of someone who really needs it this holiday season...and discover the real magic of Christmas.