Do you have a sexy name for that ?!
My office boss hollered from across the room.
CREATIVE PLAYPEN
I was then proposing on creating another brand in order to be able to work around the constricting rules set by head office in the publishing of creative materials.
We found that it was nearly impossible to experiment with new ideas as we were limited by orders and directives.
Even if we were smart and clever enough to evade most of the rules, we would eventually succumb to the office bureaucracy.
My boss paced the room a few times with brows forrowed and arms akimbo. Finally, she said, “Yep, seems like a good idea.”
So was born “Natter Negosyo”, the young, attractive partner of the (I hate to say this) geriatic and homely agency where I work.
Natter Negosyo or NN is in more social media sites than “Grandpa’s” Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. NN allows for more engagement with clients and has a wider promotional reach.
The NN brand is handled by the Social Media Team. Its game plan is simple — we follow the agreed Social Media calendar for 2021. The calendar is a series of experiments on different marketing styles until we find things that work for us. It appears simple enough, right?
EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER
The Social Media Team is populated mostly by young, digital natives. They are a bunch of talented, free spirited individuals working on making Natter Negosyo an effective promo engine for the agency.
We thoroughly planned their activities for 2021. What the office hadn’t planned for was dealing with their youthful angst and their dislike for managing their emotions and time during office hours.
Let’s call Alexa, management said. This is my secret nickname which alludes to the voice-controlled phone assistant. They probably needed someone stoic and dispassionate to balance things and make these people produce the output needed according to schedule.
Now, if you have a lot of emotional angst, I wouldn’t be the best person to unload. Its not because I don’t have empathy; I simply don’t have the resources to deal with all the tremendous emotional energy. In other words, it short circuits my brain to think about it. As Alexa would say, “it is not in my programming.”
So, in order to avoid the dreaded emotional drama, I created a chat group to send instructions to the team. I also included our boss in the group so they would have second thoughts about going all out with their feelings.
No face-to-face meetings are allowed because of COVID19, a perfectly convenient excuse for me not to physically interface with them. Also, no zoom meetings unless my boss calls for it and she’s in it.
Although I can now freely express myself, the years of living in restraint means I still need to gradually acclimatize myself to the change in conditions. And at the rate I am transforming, I can definitely say the rest of the year is going to be interesting for everyone at the office.
There is one thing I noticed about these young spitfires, they feel intensely about almost everything including mundane tasks. That can be a problem for someone like me whose current circuitry doesn’t absorb emotions very well. Thank heavens, there is technology and an app I can use to deal with that. It is easy to think of solutions when I don’t get overwhelmed in the drama.
THE FUTURE OF NATTER NEGOSYO
So far so good. Information technology has been a blessing to me. It keeps my team on the same page. With it, I can converse without socializing. I also get to do the job I love, whenever and wherever, and get paid to do it.
We are hitting work targets and the team is smoothly chugging along the tracks of the new normal.
Someone asked me what happens to Natter Negosyo if ever I leave the agency. I told management that NN will still be available for creative experiments on digital marketing. I will keep it open for the agency to use.
Considering that Natter Negosyo is attached to my name, I will probably remain involved in the brand’s many endeavors. Besides, I enjoy the job so much that I consider it more of a pleasure.
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