As our society becomes more interactive, some major companies are starting to change the way they approach advertising. The 24/7 interconnections of the internet, email, and wireless technology allow for new approaches, such as company blogs. At the same time, the greater interactivity allows for dissemination of customer feedback that may not be entirely favorable. Individual journals and blogs, as well as consumer feedback web sites, rate companies and publicize client exeriences for good or ill.
McDonald's CMO Larry Light recently announced that McDonald's is pulling away from mass marketing. This move is perhaps related to the brand damage cause by the movie Super Size Me and its accompanying blogger explosion. Rather than brand positioning, he has introduced "brand journalism" (or "brand narrative", "brand chronicle") as a marketing strategy. Where brand positioning attempts to capture an image or story to represent the company, brand journalism focuses on one idea that "can be used in a multidimensional, multilayered and multifaceted way" (Light, Advertising Age). Rather than the universal message, he will be attempting to create ad communications that over time will present a historical view of the brand. Prime Time broadcast television ads for McDonald's have shifted from two-thirds to one-third of the budget. Where the money will be going has not been announced, other than that it will be distributed across "many platforms."

SELECT Associate System is a pre-employment screening system to identify work-related behaviors such as Positive Service Attitude, Accountability, Frustration Tolerance, Acceptance of Diversity, Multi- tasking and more. It also includes a Validity Check and the Integrity Index. Each customized report includes a step by step interview guide including recommended interview questions. The following report versions are available:

• Customer Service
• Administrative Support
• Retail Sales Associates
• Entry Level Retail Management
• Call Centers
• Production & Distribution
• Healthcare
• Personal Service
• Convenience Store Associates
• Hospitality
• Office Staffing

Which presidential contender is better for your industry? Analysis from executive search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that reelection of President George W. Bush is expected to have the best impact on employers in the automotive, financial services, timber, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries, while a John Kerry victory would benefit companies in health care, education, government, home building and insurance.

However, a few sectors should benefit regardless of who wins the election. Challenger identifies energy, technology, manufacturing, defense/homeland security and consumer staples as industries that will see growth and expanded job opportunities.

The Gallup Organization's Employee Engagement Index estimates that "actively disengaged" workers are costing US businesses $300 billion a year in productivity losses, with 17% actively disengaged employees. These employees not just unhappy in their work, but actively undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish. A majority of workers (54%) falls into the "not engaged" category, putting time into their work but only in "autopilot mode." Only 29% of workers are estimated by Gallup to be truly "engaged," employees that "work with passion and who feel a profound connection to their company."

"Actively disengaged" and "not engaged" workers can add up add up to more than seventy percent of your workforce if your organization is not actively aware and working on issues of disengagement. Opportunities for increased growth, improved customer relations, and smoother operations that are missed because of cruise control and sabotage are difficult even to estimate.

Why would about 7 out of 10 workers be apathetic or hostile toward their workplace? According to Gallup, one of the primary problems has to do with bad management and leadership. The Gallup data suggests that a majority of engaged worked are satisfied with their managers, while the others are not. Bad management turns off your workers and cuts your productivity. Engaged workers feel that their manager sets them up for success. Developing trusting and supportive relationships between workers and managers should be a top priority. Dysfunctional organizational cultures often reflect the practices of the top leadership as well. It is difficult to address top leadership on these kinds of issues, even when the organizational problems are fairly obvious.

With the advanced tools available today, not only can you find out exactly the "bad news you don't want to know," but you can do something about it. Re-alignment of the corporate climate increases vitality and productivity by diagnosing the problems and providing concrete solutions. Call today for a free consultation at 404-814-0739.

Successful recruiting strategies to select-in more of the right candidates are being derailed by a voluminous response of applicants. A massive influx of resumes is creating an administrative nightmare, a "resu-mess" in human resource. Sifting through the resumes takes time. Few managers, human resource professionals and assistants have the time to screen the applications, call the candidates, fight the voice mail tag, complete phone interviews, schedule face-to-face interviews and so on.

While attempting to disqualify the unqualified or disinterested applicants, high-demand qualified candidates are often overlooked and turned off by slow response times, cumbersome hiring hurdles, or inexperienced, and sometimes inept, interviewers. To further complicate matters, 44 percent of 2.6 million resumes reportedly contained at least some lies. (Avert Inc)

A survey from the Society of Human Resource Management reports human resource professionals are uncovering lies in these categories:

• Length of employment, 53 percent.
• Past salaries, 51 percent.
• Criminal records, 45 percent.
• Former job tales, 44 percent.
• Former employers, 35 percent.
• Driving records, 33 percent.
• College degrees, 30 percent.
• Credit, 24 percent.
• Schools attended, 22 percent.
• Social Security number, 14 percent.

Does your organization have a plan for sourcing, recruiting, hiring and retaining female talent, female customers, and women-owned vendors? Organizations are heavily competing to be recognised as employers of choice for women because where women work, shop and invest is influenced by how an organization treats its women employees - and some organizations do this much better than their competitors. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women's labor force participation rate was 59.5 percent in 2003. In other words, 59.5 percent of women age 16 and over were working or looking for work in 2003. Women comprised 47 percent of the total labor force (male and female) in 2003. The labor-market participation rate for women 25 to 44 years of age (child-bearing years) has risen to more than 75%, earning in aggregate a yearly $1 trillion. Of working married women, 48% provide at least half of the household income. Women own more than 47% of the stocks (Peter Hart and NASD and the Investment Institute) and are projected to acquire over 85% of the $12 trillion growth of U.S. private wealth between 1995 and 2010 (Marti Barletta of TrendSight Group).