AC LION - Online Industry Coverage Blog

AC Lion Expands West Coast Operations

2010-03-02T15:24:27Z

AC Lion, New York’s leading digital media recruiting firm, announces the expansion of its West Coast Operations. With a 14 year track record in executive search, AC Lion recently hired David Green, a senior executive search professional, formerly of Scharf Woodward, to augment its California services. This endeavor will continue AC Lion’s strong track record of success in digital media recruitment on both coasts. Mr. Green will be working with Dana Eggers Lupton, head of AC Lion’s West Coast office, formerly of Vibrant Media. This team brings over two decades of recruiting experience in the California and media markets. “The convergence of media platforms such as TV, media and the Internet, makes Southern California and the Bay Area natural growth areas for AC Lion’s emerging media practice,” said Michael Adler, the Managing Partner spearheading the California efforts. “We work closely with many venture capital firms in the Bay Area and our growth in the LA media market has been tremendous.” The West Coast office, started by Ms. Lupton, will continue its work with media, entertainment, advertising and interactive companies ranging from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups. AC Lion, under the stewardship of CEO Alan Cutter, has become one of the leading contingency search firm for the media and digitial space and continues to expand to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, among other major metropolitan areas. An acknowledged center of influence and expertise in online marketing staffing, AC Lion will continue its exemplary executive search in the contingency marketplace for sales, marketing and technology professionals. AC LION has placed over 1,500 candidates with compensation over $65 million. About AC Lion: Founded in 1996, AC LION is a leading executive search firm specializing in building sales, marketing and technology teams within the digital media (agencies, publishers, networks, search, 3rd party technology/software), emerging platforms (mobile, social, gaming, video and converging media), e-commerce/customer acquisition, and financial industries. Over the past fourteen years, we have developed a strong reputation in the marketplace by helping the industries' best companies maintain their competitive edge by sourcing the best talent. Visit www.aclion.com for more information. Press Inquiries: Bonnie Zaben, 212.268.2945, Bonnie@aclion.com

AC Lion’s Managing Director, Dan Goldsmith, Quoted In The Wall Street Journal

2010-02-05T20:02:22Z

Job Hunters, Beware By Sarah Needleman There's been no shortage of warnings about the career dangers of posting racy content on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Yet many job hunters still don't heed that advice, and others don't realize they're doing just as much damage by doing things like bending the truth or spamming their résumés. Recruiters say such faux-pas can result in immediate and lasting career damage. "You're going to be remembered—and not in a positive way," says Colleen McCreary, chief people officer for Zynga Game Network Inc., a San Francisco developer of social games including FarmVille. "Recruiters move around a lot from company to company, and that can carry on with them for a long period of time." Ms. McCreary says candidates consistently damage their reputations by sending cover letters that disingenuously claim a specific position at the company is their dream job. With a check of Zynga's applicant-tracking system, she can see that those people submitted the same letter for several other openings, too. "They've now lost all their integrity," she says. As an alternative, she recommends that job hunters write about the two or three positions they're most qualified for in a single letter. Job hunters also regularly flub by submitting their résumés to multiple recruiters and hiring managers at a single firm. "What they're doing is a huge turn off because it sucks up a lot of time for people," says Ms. McCreary. Likewise, job hunters repeatedly derail their chances by applying for positions for which they don't even meet the basic requirements.

"There are a few people out there who seem to see it fit to apply to every job we ever post," says Dan Goldsmith, a managing partner at AC Lion, an executive-search firm in New York. "Those people just go right in the trash folder."

There are also job hunters who repeatedly send the same recruiters their résumés year after year, which can give the impression that they're desperate or a job hopper, adds Mr. Goldsmith.

Liars make up another category of memorable job hunters. "People will say they graduated from [a] school and you find out from looking online that... they just took a course," says Ms. McCreary. Executive recruiter Russ Riendeau says he checks candidates' résumés against their LinkedIn profiles and often discovers discrepancies. "It's helping me assess whether candidate is indeed who they say they are," says Mr. Riendeau, a partner at East Wing Group, a search firm in Barrington, Ill. Résumés should tell a candidate's full story, he says. Meanwhile, many job hunters are also continuing to overlook the dangers of posting provocative photos and other dubious content on social-media sites. Case in point: Recruiter Lori Fenstermaker says she lost interest in a recent candidate for a legal-assistant job after finding her raunchy MySpace profile. "She represented herself in a way that would not align with the company's philosophy and ethics," says Ms. Fenstermaker, founder of Automatic LLC, a search firm in Grand Rapids, Mich. "Anything someone publishes online could knock a person out of the running per se." There are also some job hunters who are unwittingly going out of their way to spoil their prospects.

Last year, a candidate for a senior client-services position invited Mr. Goldsmith to be part of his Facebook network. After accepting, the recruiter found a semi-nude photo of the candidate, prompting Mr. Goldsmith to withdraw this person from consideration. "It was so horribly inappropriate," the recruiter recalls. "To flaunt that with such a lack of sensitivity to professional decorum is very disquieting."

Click here to view the article Wall Street Journal

The coolest way I’ve seen to understand the Social Media landscape

2010-01-29T14:56:01Z

The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas

Happy New Year from AC Lion

2009-12-31T20:12:59Z

Happy New Year from your friends at AC Lion

Click here for help with writing a better resume

Avoid These 10 Common Resume Goofs

2009-12-02T18:29:34Z

Ten Most Common Resume Goofs Alesia Benedict, CPRW, JCTC. 1. Email Errors One of the most common goofs we see is an incorrect email address. Since most job search efforts are centered around email communications, having an email address that is wrong or difficult to interpret can be a pothole in the road to success. Double-check your email address to make sure it is correct. Don’t use your work email address on your resume and try to avoid having an email that has the number 1 in it as it can be difficult to tell if it’s a letter or a numeral. Avoid goofy or cutesy email monikers such as vanhalenlvr83 or similar. Email systems that use automated spam authenticators are loathed by recruiters and line managers alike, so stay away from them during you job search. Remember, you can set up an email address that you use JUST for job search. 2. Mechanical Mistakes Misspellings are the most common mechanical mistake. People rely on spell-check too much. Spell-check can’t tell the difference, though, in meaning. If you write “manger” instead of “manager”, spell-check won’t flag it. Other mechanical problems include verb tense shift and capitalization. It seems like when in doubt, job seekers will capitalize something just “to be on the safe side” but that just creates an error. 3. Fluff Phrases The profile or summary is often the most difficult section of the resume to create. As a result, job seekers fall back on soft-skill phrases or fluff phrases such as “good communicator” or "hard-working". These sound good but they tell the reader nothing. These are subjective traits that are opinion-based. You may think you are a good communicator but your peers might say otherwise. These traits will be judged in the interview so don’t load the resume down with these. Remember, 99.9% of all the other candidates will also be claiming these skills. Have you ever heard of anyone putting "bad communicator" or "lazy with sloppy attention to detail" on the resume? 4. Too Much Information (TMI) Job seekers often forget for whom they are writing. The recruiter or hiring manager is going to be skim-reading the resume and will be looking for the main points. The job seeker, on the other hand, feels it’s necessary to put every bit of information possible in the resume, right down to including that Eagle Scout designation from 1984. Having too much information, or irrelevant information, is a common resume error. 5. Too Little Information (TLI) The opposite of TMI is TLI – too little information. Being too general in the resume is just as bad as being too wordy. Usually too little information takes the form of no details on achievements. Most people can get their job duties or role descriptions down but falter when it’s time to detail their successes in some sort of quantitative or qualitative way. As a result, the content is thin or bland and doesn’t inspire the reader to make contact with the job seeker.

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6. Passive Voice We are all taught that formal writing is passive voice writing. Most people have a tendency to write in the passive voice, especially when composing their resumes. Passive voice – “responsible for”, “duties included”, etc. – is weak writing. Resumes need to be powerful sales documents and passive voice doesn’t persuade the reader. Make sure the resume is written in active voice with lots of solid keywords throughout the content. 7. Functional Format Using the functional format (also called a skills resume) is probably the most deadly error you can commit in terms of the resume’s effectiveness. Recruiters and employers literally detest the functional format. It does not give them the information they need in the format they want. Additionally, it generally indicates that the job seeker is trying to hide something since the functional format is used to cover up problems such as date gaps, job hopping, or lack of experience. Just the mere appearance of the functional format is a huge turnoff to decision-makers. 8. Personal Information The fact that you are an avid skeeball player, or that you collect old world coins has no relevance to whether or not you are qualified for the position. So why include information on hobbies, sports, or interests? 9. Poor Design The old large-left-margin layout is long out of fashion and fancy designs, images or tables will really give the databases a hard time when you upload your resume. The best thing to do when it comes to design of your resume is KISS – keep it simple, sweetie. Yes, make it appealing, but over designed resumes will get scrambled in uploads, and thus not win interviews. 10. One Page Length One page resumes are long gone unless you are a new graduate without much experience. Having said that, we still see plenty of one page resumes for more senior job seekers come in for critiques. It does surprise me! When a job seeker tries to limit the content of the resume to fit into one page, he/she is cutting vital information to adhere to a “rule” that is not valid for most resumes. Many resumes (including mid-level) are two pages in length and three pages are acceptable for some senior level candidates. About the Author: Alesia Benedict, Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Job and Career Transition Coach (JCTC) is the President of GetInterviews.com, the country’s leading resume writing firm. They provide professionals with customized, branded resumes and career marketing documents. Her and her firm’s credentials include being cited by JIST Publications as one of the "best resume writers in North America," quoted as a career expert in The Wall Street Journal, and published in a whopping 25+ career books. Established in 1994, the firm has aided more than 75,000 job seekers to date. All resume writers are certified writers. GetInterviews.com offers a free resume critique and their services come with a wonderful guarantee -- interviews in 30 days or they'll rewrite for free! Visit AC Lion for our current job listings.

Ahead of the Bell: Google 3Q signals ad rebound

2009-10-19T14:51:26Z

Google shares rise as 3Q results signal Web ad rebound with search leader as prime beneficiary NEW YORK (AP) -- Google Inc. shares rose in premarket trading after the company's third-quarter results signaled that the Internet advertising market is experiencing a turnaround and that the search leader is set to be the prime beneficiary. At least one analyst said the company's shares could hit $700 apiece, a level not reached since December 2007. The Mountain View, Calif., company's results were "stellar," said Jefferies & Co. analyst Youssef Squali, lifting his price target on the stock to $600 from $470, and raising his earnings estimates for the company. Canaccord Adams, meanwhile, raised its target by $140 to $700, saying YouTube results are improving and advertisers' budgets are likely to ramp up for the holiday season. Google shares peaked at nearly $750 in November 2007, just before the start of the recession. In the third quarter, the company posted its biggest quarter-to-quarter sales increase -- 8 percent -- since the end of 2007. Google shares were up $17.34, or 3.3 percent, to $547.25 in premarket trading Friday. They're already up 72 percent this year, but the stock is still attractive given Google's prospects of 15 to 20 percent growth every year for the next several years, Squali said in a note to clients. "Advertisers both in the U.S. and overseas are coming back," Squali concurred, and "committing bigger budgets." Continued growth is also likely to come as search traffic increases and consumers' click-through rates on ads rebounds, said Merriman Curhan Ford in a client note. Additionally, there are revenue growth opportunities in display ads and mobile phones, according to FBR Capital Markets analyst Heath Terry. "Google is the company best positioned to benefit from the recovery in the ad market and overall growth in Internet usage," Terry wrote. He has a price target of $680 on the shares. Google is considered a barometer for the state of online commerce because its search engine serves as the hub of the Web's largest advertising network. Meanwhile, analysts commended Google for cutting expenses, which bolstered earnings. Year-to-date, capital expenditures are down 70 percent compared to last year, said William Blair analyst Megan Friedman in a note to investors. Google executives said the company is set to ramp up spending, increasing hiring, buying up tech startups and spending more on computers. In the third quarter, Google earned $1.64 billion, or $5.13 per share, a 27 percent increase from last year. Excluding expenses for employee stock compensation, Google said it would have made $5.89 per share -- above the average estimate of $5.42 per share among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Revenue for the three months ending in September climbed 7 percent to $5.94 billion. That is Google's fastest revenue growth rate so far this year.

Thanks to Mike Adler for suggesting this timely read from Yahoo Finance

“Do You Want To Sell Sugar Water For The Rest Of Your Life Or Do You Want To Change The World?"

2009-10-16T17:07:39Z

Would that line get you to sign on the bottom line? Worked beautifully for Steve Jobs, who used it on Jon Scully. Stole Scully from a nice, secure job as CEO of Pepsi to the then-risky start up known as Apple. Scully had built Pepsi into the powerhouse rival to Coke. Jobs wanted him to do the same for Apple. And that line worked on Scully. But why? And would that line work for you? Yes, we’d all like to think we’d make that brilliant decision but hindsight is 20/20. And for me, transforming the world is not usually top dog on my job wish list. I’d rather have a goal I can achieve—and a better commute. But it did work on Scully. And this week, I finally understood why. Steve Jobs brilliantly figured out what motivated Scully—and then pitched it perfectly to him. “To him” is the critical part of that sentence. Selling Scully on the hip startup environment or the market research data would have failed miserably. Jobs knew what made Scully tick—and what would motivate him. And I have to thank Anne Miller for that understanding. Anne has an innovative way of analyzing people, that got me—and my team—to better tailor our pitches to the particular receiver. In under an hour, her fun, interactive program got us thinking and acting differently (by the way, she gets an Oscar from me for her role-playing.) Like me, you’ve probably sat through many sales training seminars. I wish all of them were as relevant as Anne’s. She’s worked with over 100 media companies and now I know why. Her presentation will make my team function better—and make us all better sales people. Bonnie Zaben is COO of AC Lion. Anne Miller’s dynamite session was the first in our Fall 2009 Professional Development series. (You can read one of our interns take on the session below) Kudos to Eve Stieglitz, Director of Digital Media Search here at AC Lion, for coordinating this series. Stay tuned for posts on our future sessions. They should only be as good!

Learning to Read People Better

2009-10-16T16:49:32Z

Here at AC Lion, a new Professional Development Series has just been kicked off. This series is meant to help our team be all that they can be. Internal and external resources on the Digital Media or Sales space will be speaking on specific topics geared towards the team’s personal business development. To kick off the series, Anne Miller was invited to speak with us. Anne is an internationally known speaker, author and seminar leader who teaches sales people how to increase their business. She regularly coaches CEO’s and senior management to communicate successfully to key constituencies; and enables technical people to transform complex information into simpler, meaningful messages. Anne spoke to us about the four different personalities of selling styles- Ideas, People, Data, and Action. For each one, we went through different scenarios to differentiate between the styles. This helped us classify and clarify our own intrinsic styles as well as help us better understand, connect, and work with our clients and candidates. To check out more info about Anne Miller, or to recruit her for your own company, please check out her website-www.annemiller.com Estee Colman is part of AC Lion’s Fall 2009 cadre of interns.

Using YouTube to Sing Goodbye ( or The 2009 version of "Take This Job and Shove It")

2009-10-12T21:22:07Z

Well, the show 9 to 5 may have been a bust on Broadway but the newest musical approach to giving notice caught my eye today. YouTube’s former Head of Industry Marketing, Kristin Kovner, uses her favorite video site to sing her resignation. Yep, you saw that right—sing her resignation. In a warbling rendition of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” she tells her colleagues that she’s leaving Google for AOL. Kudos to Kristin for creativity—and promoting a great new way to say “let’s stay in touch.” She’s the latest of a stream of Googlers crossing over to the other side at AOL (followers of Tim Armstrong and Jeff Levick unite!) BusinessInsider is lamenting the Google Brain Drain The Google Brain Drain Goes On And On listing 17 top people to recently leave. Even have a graphic interface highlighting the ex-pats. Yes, that talent is in demand—and other employers will pay top dollar. Yes, Google is much bigger and has probably lost its entrepreneurial vibe. And yes, a larger company means more internal competition (read: less promotions) for top talent. But Google’s strength has been hiring the best and the brightest. Now, they just have to keep them. Even if there’s no free lunch anymore. So Kristen is just the latest brain to drain from Google. One final note to Kristen—don’t quit your day job. Yet. Bonnie Zaben is COO of AC Lion. Her 20 years experience has taught her that exiting gracefully is the sign of a true professional. She’s seen resignation letters, stay in touch emails, let’s do lunch air kisses and even someone who was fired by voicemail. But YouTube to resign was a new twist!

AC LION CELEBRATES A GREAT SUMMER

2009-08-20T14:25:38Z

The Second Annual “Club Chris”, AC Lion’s company outing hosted by our very own Chris Masters, Director of Online Media Sales, was recently held. And much better than “The Office” season finale company picnic. No one kicking a volleyball into the woods to delay the game. No emergency room visits—and no surprise endings (though kudos to The Office for a beautifully crafted Pam and Jim hospital scene. With just a look. Amazing.) For AC Lion, was a wonderful day for us city folk to go out and play in the country. A little team-building with Whiffleball and Family Feud. A little trash talking (ok, a lot of trash talking) with basketball and water games. And a lot of chilling and grilling with guitars and good times. And the new t-shirts from Alternative Apparel rock! Was the end of the line for our great crew of summer interns. They learned many things during their summer at AC Lion—the most important of which is that tis hard to beat the AC Lion staff at anything athletic. From grey skies to grey t-shirts, was a great day for the AC Lion team.

AC Lion Interns Class of 2009

2009-08-12T21:42:33Z

I remember my first day here. I was warned I would learn more this summer than any college semester course could ever teach me. Talk about the understatement of the century. Turns out, within my very first three hours at AC Lion, I already had a clearer understanding of the online interactive space. And as my first week progressed, I kept understanding, learning and retaining every bit of information I could. Every intern here had their yellow Staples notebook permanently attached to his or her hand so as not to miss a single piece of info and word of wisdom we were fortunate enough to hear. But AC Lion has taught me more than just what an ad network is, or the difference between SEO and SEM. I have gained a new set of professional life skills that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. “I daily improved my time management skills and level of professionalism as I balanced multiple projects and dealt with candidates,” said intern Basyah Klyman. Micha Hershkop, a fellow intern, said, “I believe the internship at AC Lion not only gave me a feel for marketing/recruitment, but also gave me invaluable experience in the business world. Working alongside incredibly bright, talented, and all-around solid professionals helped me learn at an incredibly fast pace- and pick up important new skill sets.” This internship has been an experience to say the least. Intern Zach Weiner reflected on his summer as well. “I believe the most important thing about an internship is to gain hands-on experience. I got that at AC Lion in so many different forms. From social media campaigns, marketing research, to even cold calling, my resume can now say I have more than just the knowledge of the media space, but the experience to back it up.” Our summer culminated with the daunting task of pitching ourselves to the CEO, COO, and the entire management staff. I learned that the most important lesson is to have the confidence to be confident in myself. I am ending this internship a more well-rounded, intelligent, and hopefully more employable adult than when it began. On behalf of all the interns here, we would like to thank the entire AC Lion team for the incredible experience and priceless opportunity. Thanks to Bonnie Zaben, Chris Masters, Dan Goldsmith, Dana Lupton, Edna Brown, Eve Stieglitz, Josh Marmer, Matt Devlin, Mike Adler, Nadav Geft, Ted O’Brien, and of course our fearless leader, Alan Cutter. I would also like to personally thank my supervisor, Chris Masters. Not only did Chris give me compelling tasks and stimulating jobs that were catered to my interests, but he made the point of teaching me something new every step of the way. Chris had a genuine interest in helping to make me into a better intern and an overall more sophisticated and well-rounded individual. If you too are looking to obtain a valuable internship with tons of opportunity to learn and grow, feel free to visit our website, www.aclion.com. Hi! It's Shirlee Spitzer, Media Marketing Associate here at AC Lion. As a Journalism and Media major at Rutgers University , I'm constantly looking for feedback on my work. Feel free to leave some criticism, constructive or not! (Although, admittedly, I do prefer constructive).

Uncovering the Cover Letter

2009-08-10T22:30:04Z

In these difficult times, many new grads have the same thing on their mind; Put to use their spanking new degree and find that dream job. The issue? Competition from many more experienced candidates trying to get those same jobs because they just recently lost their own. So with lots of competition for just a few jobs, every little factor matters. From the font you choose for your résumé, to the shirt you wear to the interview, every detail is relevant. And that includes a cover letter. Whatever you do, don’t overlook this major detail. A great cover letter could be the slight edge that gets you into that interview. But how does a fantastic cover letter come about? The New York Times posted an article a couple months ago with just a few helpful hints. I decided to make a more condensed version. Consider it your cover letter cheat sheet. The key to a successful cover letter is one that says what you can’t say in a résumé. “Cover letters are a graceful way to introduce yourself, to convey your personality and to impress a hiring manager with your experience and writing skills.” It’s your chance to show how great of a communicator you are. Prove to the hiring manager that you can write and you can write well. It’s a major asset in the job market to be an articulate speaker and eloquent writer, so if you have the skills, now is the time to demonstrate it. The cover letter is quite literally the first impression you get to make. So many excellent candidates spend hours crafting their resume, but simply throw together a cover letter in a quick minute, almost as an afterthought. But if a cover letter is the first thing the hiring manager sees and frankly it’s bad, he or she will never even bother to see the impressive résumé underneath. Cover letters should generally be no longer than three to four paragraphs. The first paragraph should explain why it is you are writing, be it you are answering an ad; you were referred to the company through networking, etc. The body of the letter should explain what makes you a good candidate. “Highlight qualities you possess that may not fit the confines of a résumé.” You should also show how knowledgeable you are about the company. Finish off the letter with a promise of a follow up in the near future. Show what can’t be told in the résumé. But avoid giving away too much information. Like a résumé, the cover letter is only there to get you the interview. Once you are in the interview, that’s when you can work on getting the job. So that’s pretty much it to the mystery of the cover letter. And it wasn’t even that difficult to crack! Hi! It's Shirlee Spitzer, Media Marketing Associate here at AC Lion. As a Journalism and Media major at Rutgers University , I'm constantly looking for feedback on my work. Feel free to leave some criticism, constructive or not! (Although, admittedly, I do prefer constructive).

Top 10 Keys to Acing the Phone Screen

2009-08-06T20:00:46Z

Interviewer: “We’re really impressed by your resume. Walk me through your background” Job Applicant: “Honey, I’ll take out the trash later, I’m on the phone” No, it’s not a scene from The Office. Nor is it a weird dream sequence from an old Woody Allen movie. This is real life—as heard from the interviewer’s side of the proverbial table. Have to say, I just don’t get it. Why don’t people take phone interviews seriously? Do they really think I can’t hear them eating on the phone, giving directions in the car, typing at their keyboard? Don’t they realize that they won’t get a ‘real’ interview if they can’t make it through a phone one? These days, more and more initial interviews are taking place by phone—and not taking it seriously can hold you back. So, here is Bonnie’s Top 10 Keys to Acing the Phone Screen. Use them and you’ll be the one called back for the next interview. 10. Be prepared. Yeah, you may not be a Boy Scout, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is an interview—blow it and you won’t get the job. 9. Use a good phone connection. You may be perfect for the job but the interviewer won’t know it if s/he can’t hear you. 8. Stand up and smile. As I learned from a sales pro, “Motion brings Emotion.” And without face to face contact, you need that emotion even more. 7. Yes, it’s a real interview. Be prepared to answer real questions. 6. Yes, it’s a real interview. Be prepared to ASK perceptive questions. 5. Know how you come across on the phone. One trick is to call your own voice mail and leave yourself a message. Wait 24 hours and then listen to yourself. You’ll be amazed at what you hear. 4. No dogs, driving or other distractions! 3. Find the quietest spot possible—and use it for the phone call. And get there 5 minutes early, ready to talk. 2. Basic rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t do it during a face to face interview, don’t even think of doing it during a phone interview. 1. Have a winning story on tap to start the call—tell a story that will engage the listener, showcase your skills and let your personality shine. Bonnie Zaben, COO of AC Lion, has conducted more phone interviews than she can count.

People Will be Pinching Themselves as Reality Becomes Augmented

2009-08-04T19:51:40Z

Imagine you’re shopping online and you find a shirt that you really love. Now imagine previewing it on yourself before you go through all the hassle that is online shopping. Well according to an interesting article on adweek.com, it’s not such a far-fetched idea. In fact, augmented reality could be the “next big thing” in marketing. However, in a world where people try to present a new “next big thing” every three minutes, it’s easy to simply disregard it as the next big flop (remember the Segway? Yea, me neither). BUT, upon closer review, there may actually be something to this AR. For those of you scratching your heads, AR is where virtual reality meets real time footage. For instance, the most commonly known example of AR is the little yellow “first down” line seen during football games. The real-world football game is meshed with the virtual element of the yellow line drawn in real time. Pretty cool concept when you think about it. And it seems as though marketers have been thinking as well as coming up with innovative ways to use AR to their advantage as it gains some serious credibility. No longer just a cool effect used in sci-fi movies, augmented reality has moved into the mainstream through several new Web and mobile applications. And it’s not all just hype; there is some serious potential to launch some cutting-edge digital campaigns. One company taking a shot at AR is Zugara, with their Webcam Social Shopper app. According to adweek.com, “the prototype, which the shop created as a test for clients, lets consumers “try on” clothing – via their Webcams and monitors – as if they were in a store… users can switch to new outfits by motioning with their hands.” Regardless of whether or not it could truly be a valuable marketing tool, that is one seriously cool application! Way to make the average consumer feel like Tom Cruise in Minority Report! Zugara, however, isn’t the first to tap into this sweet technology. According to an article in the New York Times, “Kicking Reality Up a Notch”, there’s a free downloadable app available called Layar, developed by SPRXmobile, a privately held company based in Amsterdam. Layar allows people to use the camera on their cellphones to see information about nearby restaurants, ATMs, even available jobs displayed in front of the buildings that house them. The same article also mentions a similar product called Wikitude.me, developed for Android phones. “… Wikitude.me provides information on 800,000 points of interest around the world, according to Phillip Breuss-Schneeweis, founder of Mobilizy, the Austrian company that developed Wikitude.me.” Doctors are even trying to find a way to utilize AR, as another NY Times article explains. Scientists are hoping to use augmented reality to “make transparent the solid walls of flesh or plaster within a decade, or even sooner.” From doctors to marketers, everyone is trying to find a way to use augmented reality. And it’s not hard to see why. X-ray vision in the emergency room, restaurant guides in the streets, and racks of clothing in a bedroom. Augmented reality is not the next big thing. It is the now big thing. Hi! It's Shirlee Spitzer, Media Marketing Associate here at AC Lion. As a Journalism and Media major at Rutgers University , I'm constantly looking for feedback on my work. Feel free to leave some criticism, constructive or not! (Although, admittedly, I do prefer constructive).

Chris Masters Played to Win at the 2nd Annual CIMA Golf Tournament!

2009-07-16T16:33:51Z

One of AC Lion’s very own, Chris Masters, was on the first place team at the 2nd annual CIMA Golf Tournament this past Thursday, July 9th. Chris and teammates Maurice Moore, Todd Foster, and Tyler White, made quite an impression at the Harborside International Golf Center with their bogie-free round. CIMA, or the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association, describes itself as, “Chicago’s only interactive-centric professional organization dedicated to the enhancement and acceleration of business opportunities, professional development, and exponential networking for the interactive marketing professionals in Chicago.” Chris and his teammates sealed their first place victory with an overall score of 62 which was ten under on the par 72 course. Part of Chris’s winning strategy was creating the perfect team. Like any good recruiter, he scouted out the top players in advance and got them on board his team. As our own COO, Bonnie Zaben, so eloquently stated, “Identifying top talent, be it on the golf course or media sales, is what [we] do.” Appropriately enough, Chris said that one of the day’s highlights was standing on the range as another interactive executive noted how Chris knew more people than he did, and he wasn’t even a Chicago native! Clearly, AC Lion’s networking skills are still among the best in the space. On behalf of the entire AC Lion team, I just want to congratulate Chris on his exciting accomplishment. It sounds like it was a great day and a superb win. However, Chris himself summed it up best in one word, “tremendous.” And who knows? Maybe one day AC Lion’s Chris Masters will win The Masters. Green jacket anyone? Hi! I’m Shirlee Spitzer and I’m a summer intern here at AC Lion and I’ve taken on the fabulous task of reviving our lovely blog. During the school year, I’m a student at Rutgers University studying Journalism and Media. Although our blog has been a bit dormant for a few weeks, it’s back again with freshly sharpened claws. Or should I say clubs.